A number of industry groups representing a broad array of financial services providers took advantage of the CFPB’s latest inquiry about consumer complaint information to express their concerns with the bureau’s possible expansions of its related database. Earlier this year, the bureau issued a formal request for information about the Consumer Complaint Database, asking for “input from the public on the potential collection and sharing of consumer compliments about providers of consumer financial products and services and more information about a company’s complaint handling.” The bureau specifically asked for input on two key points, the first of which was ranking or otherwise sorting service providers by certain metrics related to the complaints they receive, allowing complainants to rate service providers’ ...

Consumer complaints about credit reporting pretty much remained flat in the first quarter of 2015 from the fourth quarter of 2014 – up a scant 0.5 percent during that period – but dropped 11.0 percent overall from year-ago levels, a notable decline. An analysis of the CFPB’s consumer complaint database by Inside the CFPB found that each of the big three credit reporting firms – Experian, Equifax and TransUnion – saw declines year over year. Experian turned in the best performance of the three, however, seeing a drop of 18.4 percent. TransUnion was the only one of the big three to see a decline in both periods.Among specific complaints, “incorrect information” continues to represent the lion’s share of negative consumer feedback ... [with exclusive data chart]

Whistleblowers that bring a False Claim Act claim against an FHA lender based on previous publicly disclosed information have no standing, according to a recent federal district court ruling. Judge Jack Zouhary of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio dismissed an FCA lawsuit against U.S. Bank because the whistleblower had neither direct nor independent knowledge of the bank’s alleged false claims – two basic requirements for standing in a whistleblower suit. The Advocates for Basic Legal Equality (ABLE), an Ohio-based legal aid group, filed an FCA lawsuit against U.S. Bank for allegedly disregarding and violating FHA regulations. The group accused the bank of filing false claims and collecting payments without evaluating loss mitigation alternatives before foreclosing on properties. According to ABLE, it had consulted with “many people,” whose mortgage loans were ...

The New York regional office of the Securities and Exchange Commission has opened up a preliminary investigation into the use of “collection agents” by mortgage servicers, including Ocwen Financial. In a recent 10-Q filing, Ocwen said it received a letter in February from SEC staff “informing us that it was conducting an investigation relating to mortgage loan servicer use of collection agents, and it made a request for the voluntary production of documents and information.” In the filing, Ocwen provided...

The top three operations in the debt collection business all saw their consumer complaint numbers fall both quarter over quarter and year over year, according to a new analysis by Inside the CFPB. Fourth-ranked Enhanced Recovery Co. was the only one of the top five to see increases in both timeframes, and they were doozies: a 96.5 percent jump QoQ and a huge spike of 184.1 percent YoY. Citibank, the only financial institution in the top tier, was uneven, with complaints up a small 6.3 percent QoQ, but down a substantial 28.5 percent YoY. This dynamic seemed in full play for the entire industry, with many firms doing well, some doing poorly [with an exclusive chart] ...

Making mortgage payments is the most common type of mortgage complaint active servicemembers, veterans or their dependents report to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. A recent CFPB report on the top complaints received from military members and their families show that 24 percent were mortgage-related, second to debt collection, which accounted for the highest percentage of complaints received, 39 percent. An estimated 53 percent of servicemember complaints involved mortgage servicing related to loan modifications, collections and foreclosures. The report did not identify any specific loan, although it covered both conventional and government-backed mortgages. Complaints against servicers were mostly about failure to remove or amend derogatory credit reports accrued by servicemembers during the trial period, even though the servicemembers have successfully ...

Borrower complaints about their student loans continued their apparently inexorable downward momentum, both quarter over quarter and year over year, according to a new analysis by Inside the CFPB of the latest complaint data from the CFPB. Industry wise, consumer gripes fell 11.3 percent QoQ and an even larger 15.7 percent YoY, the data show. Navient, the Sallie Mae spinoff, continues to dominate because of the sheer size of its footprint in the marketplace. Nonetheless, it showed impressive drops of 24.3 percent and 33.0 percent, respectively, for both time periods. Repayment problems continue to represent the lion’s share of the issues about which student-debt borrowers have issues. However, after peaking in the second quarter of 2012, and experiencing another big ...

Quicken Loan’s lawsuit against the government could help provide some certainty to lenders as to the proper legal standard for evaluating compliance with FHA rules and whether loan sampling is a permissible post-endorsement review strategy, according to legal experts. The adjudication of Quicken’s case against the Department of Justice in a public forum should clarify FHA policies, procedures, and the degree of future liability risks, experts said. Quicken Loans, the top FHA lender in 2014, sued the Department of Justice in federal court in Detroit April 17, accusing it of high-pressure tactics to admit wrongdoing and of using a small sample of flawed loans as a basis for claims under the False Claims Act. Up to that time, Quicken Loans had been the subject of an ongoing DOJ probe, which began three years earlier, in relation to its FHA lending practices. Quicken also asserted that, before filing its lawsuit ...

A high percentage of VA loans are not closing on time, potentially creating a disincentive for borrowers to use the product and opt for the competition instead, according to the latest Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance’s HousingPulse Tracking Survey. Data showed that the share of VA loans closing on time declined to 55 percent in March 2015 from 70 percent in April 2014. This suggests that 45 percent of VA loans are experiencing serious delays in closing. “For VA, this is a significant change for the worse,” said Tom Popik, designer of the survey. The VA’s average closing time is 41 days as of March this year, up from around 39 percent a year ago. Comparatively, 75 percent of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans with private mortgage insurance are closing on time as of March 2015, up from 68 percent a year ago. When delayed, VA closing takes a lot longer, 29 additional days, up from ...

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-IA, chairman of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, has asked the Department of Housing and Urban Development to explain the duties and functions of two officials who were appointed as “principal deputy assistant secretary.” The appointments make it appear that HUD is deliberately circumventing the nomination process by creating new official titles for appointees without obtaining Senate confirmation, said Grassley. If that is the case, HUD Secretary Julian Castro may be in violation of the Vacancies Reform Act of 1998, the lawmaker warned. The statute provides several mechanisms to fill job positions that require candidates to be nominated by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate. “The Vacancies Act also declares that those mechanisms are the exclusive means of filling vacancies,” Grassley said. “Creating new job titles is not ...