The White House joined Warren in its criticism, saying that putting the bureau under the appropriation of Congress would limit the agency. The administration also criticized the Republicans budget proposal's "creative-accounting savings" that shift funding for the agency to appropriations.
Read More »CFPB Announces New Policy to Allow Consumers to Share Complaint Stories
A policy allowing consumers to publicly share their stories when submitting complaints to the CFPB was first proposed by the Bureau in July 2014. After months of receiving comments from consumer groups, trade associations, companies, and individuals, theCFPB finalized its consumer narrative policy on Thursday.
Read More »NAFCU Voices Support for Proposed Legislation
The bill includes a report provision, which will delay the implementation of the NCUA’s proposed risk-based capital regulation as it relates to mortgage servicing assets until an impact study is conducted. The NAFCU says this will promote transparency, require a thorough analysis of the proposal’s impact on mortgage servicing assets, and encourage the NCUA to take more time to consider the full impact of its proposed capital rule.
Read More »Bill Seeks to Amend Truth in Lending Act
In 2013, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued guidelines to expand the range of loan products that can be considered high-cost mortgages under the Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act (HOEPA). According to the senators, the CFPB guidelines went into effect in January 2014 with the CFPB failing to recognize how unique manufactured home loans can be. After the guidelines were released a large percentage of small-balance loans used for the purchase of affordable manufactured housing were classified as high cost loans. As a result, lender liabilities associated with making and obtaining HOEPA high cost mortgage has increased. This could lead to a loss of credit available to those seeking to purchase manufactured housing.
Read More »Supervisions Show Dodd Frank Violations by Mortgage Originators
The report also found improper use of lender credit and failure to provide Goof Faith Estimate (GFE) in a timely manner as other violations. Supervision found instances where lender amounts disclosed to HUD exceeded the GFE, due to inadequate training and policies. GFEs were delayed beyond the three-business day requirement at some institutions due to policies and procedures that did not properly define when an application was received. The CFPB also found social media advertising was not monitored by institutions, a violation of Regulation Z which requires disclosures to be posted with any advertisements.
Read More »CFPB Discrimination Report Made Public
Allegations of workplace discrimination within the CFPB arose in 2013 when documents were leaked by employees to the media. Employees alleged they were givin unfair evaluations based on gender, race, and age, not job performance. Head of the CFPB Rirchard Cordray admitted the employee evaluation system used in 2012 and 2013 was unfair and launched his own internal report last year. Cordray’s report found black and Hispanic workers, those over age 40, those outside Washington, D.C. and those in the union were more likely to get bad performance evaluations under the system, which worsened their pay and career advancement prospects.
Read More »Bill Introduced to Replace CFPB Director With Committee
Neugebauer’s proposal would replace the CFPB director with a bipartisan, five-member commission appointed by the president for five-year terms, with no more than three from a single political party. According to the draft legislation, the CFPB would also be renamed as the “Financial Product Safety Commission” and would no longer be funded by the Federal Reserve, but by its own budget appropriation.
Read More »American Land Title Association Warns New CFPB Forms Could Confuse Consumers
In his testimony, Cordray stated the CFPB is “committed to an even-handed approach to rulemaking that maintains important protections for consumers while listening to all stakeholders and making changes where appropriate."
Read More »CFPB Report Identifies Consumer Complaints on Reverse Mortgages
Most of the complaints boil down to consumer confusion over the terms of a loan. The most common complaint is that borrowers are unable to refinance. Related, many consumers dislike that they cannot change the terms of the loan.
Read More »CFPB: Nearly Half of Homebuyers Don’t Shop Around for Mortgages
Looking at the shopping behaviors of mortgage borrowers in 2013, the bureau found that 47 percent of buyers don't take the time to shop around and compare lenders, resulting in potentially higher costs. Furthermore, 77 percent end up applying with only one lender or broker rather than filling out multiple applications to see who will offer the best deal.
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