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Inside the CFPB

July 15, 2013

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Consumer Complaints to Bureau Dropped 8 Percent in 2Q13

Consumer complaints filed with the CFPB dropped 8.2 percent overall from the first quarter of 2013 to the second, according to an Inside the CFPB analysis of the bureau’s complaint database. Eight of the top 10-ranked financial institutions that had complaints lodged against them saw a drop in complaints during the second quarter, including Ocwen, down 21.8 percent; PNC Bank, off 20.7 percent; and Capital One, down 21.3 percent. The two gainers in the top 10 were Equifax, which saw a gain of 9.4 percent, and Experian, which had... Read More

Lawmakers Grill CFPB Official Over Personally Identifiable Information

Republican members of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit closely questioned Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Acting Deputy Director Steven Antonakes last week over the degree to which the CFPB is collecting personally identifiable information from consumers. Many of the GOP subcommittee members were quick to invoke recent scandals involving the IRS’ targeting of conservative groups and National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden as further evidence of the need to... Read More

Sen. Crapo Calls for Detailed GAO Study of CFPB Data Collection

Sen. Mike Crapo, R-ID, the ranking member of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, has called upon the Government Accountability Office to perform a detailed examination of the CFPB’s “big” data collection efforts on consumer spending habits. “The size and scope of this data collection warrant proper government oversight to both guard consumers’ privacy and ensure that the CFPB is acting within its existing authority,” Crapo said in his letter to the GAO requesting the study. The senator also noted that the law that... Read More

Bureau Finalizes April Changes To ATR, Mortgage Servicing Rules

The CFPB issued a final rule last week that finalizes the April clarifications made to its ability-to-repay and mortgage servicing rules. Among other things, the final rule clarifies and amends how several factors can be used to calculate a consumer’s debt-to-income ratio. Such factors include a consumer’s employment record and income, business credit reports and other documents relating to self-employed consumers, Social Security income, and non-employment related income such as from a trust or rental property. The final... Read More

Firms Will be Held Accountable For Unlawful Debt Collection Practices

Debt collection practices are now fully and firmly on the CFPB’s radar. Last week, the bureau warned all companies under its jurisdiction that they will be held accountable for unlawful conduct in collecting a consumer’s debts. In the first of two bulletins, the CFPB makes clear that any entity subject to the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010, whether a third-party collector or a creditor collecting its own debts, can be held accountable for any unfair, deceptive or abusive practices in collecting a consumer’s debts... Read More

Dems Ratchet Up Pressure for Vote On Cordray. Will Reid ‘Go Nuclear’?

Up on Capitol Hill, it looks like push is about to become shove this week over President Barack Obama’s second nomination of Richard Cordray to continue as head of the CFPB. Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-NV, has been threatening to upend the Senate’s traditional filibuster mechanism and change the rule under which presidential nominees must receive 60 votes in order to be approved – a move long known among Washington, DC, politicos as the “nuclear option” because of the politically toxic fallout such a tactic is widely expected... Read More

CFPB, Other Feds Propose HPML Appraisal Requirement Exemptions

The CFPB and five other federal financial regulatory agencies issued a proposed rule last week that would create exemptions from certain appraisal requirements for a subset of higher-priced mortgage loans.Under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, mortgages are deemed higher-priced if they are secured by a consumer’s home and have interest rates above a certain threshold. The proposed rule would exempt the following three types of HPMLs from Dodd-Frank appraisal requirements: certain loans secured by... Read More

Industry Groups Suggest Priority List For Changes to Appendix Q

The Mortgage Bankers Association and the Housing Policy Council of the Financial Services Roundtable provided the CFPB with a list of priority implementation items on the ability-to-repay/ “qualified mortgage” rule’s Appendix Q, which provides the standards to make the 43 percent debt-to-income determination required by the general QM standard. “We do not believe rigid adherence to deadlines should result in a rule that is unnecessarily difficult to implement or unduly limits credit for consumers,” the trade group reps... Read More

RESPA/TILA Disclosure Rule Now Due in Oct., CFPB Agenda Shows

The CFPB’s final rule to integrate the consumer mortgage disclosures under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act and the Truth in Lending Act is now projected to be issued sometime in October, a month later than had previously been indicated, according to the bureau’s semi-annual regulatory agenda update. The RESPA/TILA disclosure rule will be the last significant mortgage-related rulemaking as stipulated by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act for the foreseeable future. All of the... Read More

Bureau Releases Dodd-Frank Mortgage Rules Readiness Guide

The CFPB has released the first version of the 2013 Dodd-Frank Mortgage Rules Readiness Guide, which provides a set of criteria and preparation procedures for residential mortgage lenders and originators. The guide’s purposes are to help regulated entities comply with the mortgage rules, highlight key issue areas that may be closely examined during a review, and focus the industry and examiners on key elements of a compliance management system that may warrant review, modification, or other enhancement. The guide... Read More

Industry Requests Temporary Fix On Counseling Disclosure Mandate

Five industry trade groups jointly wrote the CFPB asking for a short-term fix and offering ideas to help the industry in effectively implementing the new requirements for disclosure of homeownership counseling information to consumers at the time of loan application, which was one element of the bureau’s final rule on high-cost mortgage loans issued in January. “We urge the CFPB to adopt a temporary compliance measure that will be possible to implement by the January 2014 compliance deadline, pending steps necessary... Read More

Worth Noting/Legislative Roundup/Looking Ahead

Banking Industry Reps Ask CFPB to Delay Implementing Mortgage Rules. The CFPB should delay the January 2014 effective dates of several pending mortgage rules, a number of banking industry representatives said in a letter to CFPB Director Richard Cordray late last week. “These rules will dramatically refocus the entire lending process,” wrote the American Bankers Association and their state association affiliates. “Every participant in that process, from lenders to borrowers, service providers, appraisers, escrow agents, title... Read More

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