CFPB Director Kathy Kraninger faced criticism from Democrats on the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs about recent bureau activities related to fair lending sanctions, the Military Lending Act examination and the new payday lending rule proposal.

CFPB to Hold Spring 2019 Advisory Committee Meetings; FTC Sends Annual Report to CFPB With ECOA Activities; Consumer Groups Seek CFPB Records on Eric Blankenstein; CFPB Warns of Widespread Elder Financial Abuse; CFPB Announces System for Prepaid Issuers to Submit Account Agreements.

In a letter to CFPB staff recently, Rep. Maxine Waters, D-CA, chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee, urged employees to blow the whistle on agency leaders.

Kathy Kraninger, now into her fourth month as CFPB director, seems to have adopted an industry-friendly approach at the agency, but she’s being less dramatic than her predecessor Mick Mulvaney.

In a rather unusual move, the CFPB earlier this month released written guidance to clarify certain aspects of the integrated mortgage dis-closure rule. This left many industry watchers looking at clues as to whether it signals a change in the agency’s attitude towards written guidance.

The CFPB plans to save $20 million in spending in fiscal 2019, with major budget cuts in its supervision, enforcement and fair lending division.

Republican lawmakers want the CFPB to be led by an independent inspector general appointed by the president.

The House Financial Services Committee will target White House acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney over his previous role as the interim head of the CFPB, said Maxine Waters, chairwoman of the HFSC, one of the most powerful House committees.

The Department of Veterans Affairs has issued guidance explaining the confusion in the last couple of weeks caused by conflicting VA regulations and legislation. The latest guidance from the VA, Circular 26-11-16, updates the method for calculating funding fees based on a provision in H.R. 2646, the Veterans Health Facilities Capital Improvement Act of 2011, which President Obama signed into law on Oct. 5. H.R. 2646, which sets funding for the construction of various VA medical facilities, also provides for higher funding fees for VA loans, contrary to funding fee changes announced by the VA on Sept. 8. Previous VA guidance notes ...

The Multistate Mortgage Committee of the Conference of State Bank Supervisors and the American Association of Residential Mortgage Regulators last week came out with examiner guidelines for use in reviewing non-depository mortgage loan originators’ and creditors’ compliance with the Federal Reserve Board’s mortgage loan originator compensation rules. The guidelines are intended to promote standardization and consistency within the state regulatory community regarding enforcement of the FRB’s rules. The Fed’s final rules for closed-end credit under Regulation Z introduced loan originator compensation restrictions to protect consumers against the unfairness, deception and abuse that can arise with certain loan origination compensation practices. The rules generally prohibit paying loan originators on the basis of loan terms and conditions, dual compensation to originators by consumers and any other person, and “steering” consumers to loans to receive greater compensation.