Category — By Industry

On May 21, 2012, the IRS stated that it plans in coming months to start contacting tax debt resolution businesses based on what it is seeing in advertising, commerce, online, and through consumer complaints. [Read more →]

Despite much of the CFPB’s attention being directed toward mortgage servicers and payday lenders, Marla Blow reaffirmed the CFPB’s commitment to simplifying credit card disclosure agreements in line with the CFPB’s mortgage and student loan disclosures.

 At a conference for the payments industry, Blow confirmed that her unit was working on simplified disclosures that provided consumers with information regarding relevant legal protections that also addressed industry concerns about the kinds of information that should be included in a disclosure. 

Despite Blow’s comments reaffirming the CFPB’s commitment to clear credit card agreement disclosures, she did not provide any additional information on when the public could expect to see finalized disclosure prototypes.

After clearing the House with bipartisan support, legislating preserving the confidentiality of information submitted by regulated entities to the CFPB during the administration of its supervision and examination program is being held in the Senate. [Read more →]

Leonard Chanin, Associate Director of Regulations for the CFPB, was interviewed by the Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank about the CFPB’s mission, the adverse impact that regulatory overreach could have on innovation in the consumer financial products marketplace and the affect of CFPB regulations on community banks. 

A full transcript of Chanin’s interview is available here.

On April 13, 2012, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau published a bulletin clarifying that it “expects supervised banks and nonbanks to oversee their business relationships with service providers in a manner that ensures compliance with Federal consumer financial law.”  [Read more →]

The CFPB outlined the rulemakings affecting mortgage lenders that it plans to issue for public comment in coming months.  [Read more →]

Reforming mortgage remains the CFPB’s top priority according to the CFPB’s Raj Date in comments before the Mortgage Bankers Association National Secondary Market Conference.  

Date’s remarks alluded to “common sense rules” that the CFPB is finalizing concerning a borrower’s ability to pay, notice of force-placed insurance and enhanced disclosures for rate adjustments and mortgage balances.  Date expressed confidence that each of the aforementioned rules will be completed by January 2013. 

Date’s full remarks are available here.

CFPB Director Richard Cordray addressed the 2012 Simon New York City Conference on a range of topics concerning financial services regulation.  His address referenced the CFPB’s regulation of nonbanks where he concluded that prior to Dodd Frank nonbank actors were “held to no standards of accountability at all.”  Further, Cordray added: 

“At the Consumer Bureau, we believe in evenhanded and reasonable oversight of the marketplace. And we are seeking to accomplish that by broadening the regulatory structure to include federal oversight of both banks and the nonbank firms that directly compete against one another in many of these same markets.” 

The CFPB’s supervision and examination program of nonbanks is in full swing, and Cordray has emphasized the S&E program’s focus on nonbank mortgage lenders, payday lenders and debt collectors.

            At the annual Card Forum and Expo, speculation was raised that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau wants banks to collect all customer complaints in one, unified, company-wide database. [Read more →]

On May 9, 2012, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced that it had hired Chris Peterson from the University of Utah, a loud critic of mortgage securitization practices and payday lending. [Read more →]