Tag Archives: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

The Community Mortgage Lenders of America (CMLA) unveiled the Community Mortgage Lenders Act of 2013, a piece of legislation designed to spur lending, maintain effective consumer protections, and remove what the group calls "excessive regulations aimed for other parts of the market." Under the proposed legislation, "responsible" community lenders (defined as those who have no history or predatory or abusive loan practices and whose product predominantly falls under the qualified mortgage criteria) would be exempt from several rules.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released updated procedures for examinations of financial institutions and mortgage lenders, which will begin taking place in January of next year. The new procedures, which will be published in regulatory manuals, cover a range of topics, including compensation for loan originators, qualification standards for mortgage professionals, consumer rights, arbitration, and appraisals.

While reverse mortgages can be a boon to seniors as they head into retirement, a new report from the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) says trends show trouble in the market that may cost taxpayers billions of dollars. According to a 2012 MetLife survey, two-thirds of borrowers are now using reverse mortgages to pay down debt. Pamela Villarreal, a senior fellow at NCPA, expects the "troubling trend will increase as more baby boomers enter retirement."

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced Wednesday it has finalized amendments to the Ability-to-Repay rule first handed down in January this year. The rule, set to take effect January 10, 2014, establishes basic requirements designed to ensure consumers don't take on loans they can't pay back. According to CFPB, Wednesday's amendments are the result of months of input offered by industry groups and the public at large, embodying the bureau's efforts "to make reasonable changes to rule."

A former attorney for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has joined Venable LLP as a partner in its Washington, D.C., office, the firm announced. Allyson Baker was among the initial team of enforcement attorneys at CFPB, helping to formulate agency policies regarding investigations and litigation in the aftermath of the financial crisis.

A new report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) reveals consumer finance complaints filed by service members, veterans, and their families steadily rose throughout 2012. The report, released by CFPB's Office of Servicemember Affairs, shows the number of complaints rising steadily each quarter, closing the year at a total of 3,455. Mortgage complaints were by far the most common out of all categories, with a quarterly average of 52.3 percent of complaints focused on home finance products.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced two individuals were added to the bureau's leadership team, and two current staff members will be serving in different roles.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) director Richard Cordray faced a contentious Senate Banking Committee Tuesday for his semi-annual report to Congress. A particular point of debate was the joint effort between CFPB and the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) to establish a national mortgage database that includes information such as borrower profiles, payment history, and mortgage products and terms on loans--an idea one senator described as "creepy."

As part of its ongoing efforts to assist the industry in the implementation of new mortgage guidelines, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued proposed amendments to clarify the qualified mortgage (QM) and servicing rules first laid out in January. The proposal addresses five topics, including debt-to-income ratio concerns surrounding the Ability to Repay Rule, uncertainties around the temporary QM provision, and which criteria are used to define "small servicers."

QuestSoft's fifth annual compliance survey reveals at least 49 percent of lenders have ranked Dodd-Frank-related uncertainty as a high concern for the past three years.