CFPB Tops List of Lender Concerns for Third Straight Year

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's (CFPB) mandates and deadlines are still the top concern for lenders, according to QuestSoft's eighth annual compliance survey. More than 500 lenders responded to this year’s survey—62.2 percent ranked the Qualified Mortgage (QM) rule as a high concern.

Lenders also reported issues from the combined Truth in Lending (TIL) and Good Faith Estimate (GFE) disclosure forms as top concerns, with 54.8 percent of respondents marking the issues as a high concern.

"Compared to last year's survey, lenders appear more weary than ever of CFPB's rules, as non-CFPB issues are seen as increasingly lower priorities," said Leonard Ryan, founder and president of QuestSoft. "It seems the message of the survey is that for many lenders, the mortgage environment has become highly dependent on the box of lending that the CFPB rules are creating."

CFPB rulemaking has grabbed the top spot in the survey every year since 2012, the first year the survey was available to comment on the newly created regulatory body. Furthermore, CFPB rules that haven't even been finalized or publicized raised concerns among lenders.

"Recently introduced discussion points for proposed Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) changes (57.5 percent high concern), and other CFPB-related rulemakings (47.7 percent high concern), both outscored any non-CFPB category," the company found.

Vendor management was a growing concern for lenders, while RESPA fee tolerances (45 percent high concern) and Fair Lending exams (40 percent high concern) were also atop the list of lender's worries.

"The timeframe in between regulatory rule announcements and implementation dates simply doesn't allow enough leeway for lenders to rework processes and implement new technologies in order to achieve compliance," Ryan said. "Lenders will continue to seek counsel and integrate with venerable compliance providers, in efforts to prepare for audits and meet industry compliance standards."