August 2014

The proposed rule amending the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act and its implementing regulation, Regulation C, was published in the Federal Register today. As such, the official comment deadline will be October 29, 2014. We previously published a short description and analysis of the proposed rule that noted a different comment date.… Continue Reading

The CFPB announced that it has entered into a “Joint Higher Education Memorandum of Understanding” with the Departments of Veterans Affairs (VA), Defense (DOD), and Education (ED) as part of a joint effort by the agencies “to prevent abusive and deceptive recruiting practices by schools serving servicemembers, veterans, spouses and other family members.” … Continue Reading

The CFPB has announced that it will be holding a field hearing on auto finance on September 18 in Indianapolis.  The announcement indicates that the hearing will feature remarks from Director Richard Cordray, as well as “testimony” from consumer groups, industry representatives, and members of the public.

Given the CFPB’s history of using field hearings as the venue for announcing a related development, it seems highly likely that the field hearing will coincide with the CFPB’s release of a proposed larger participant rule for the auto finance market. … Continue Reading

NOTE: We intended to post this blog entry on the Monitor on July 30 but it was inadvertently omitted.

The CFPB, after an investigation in cooperation with 13 state attorneys general, has entered into a consent order with Colfax Capital Corporation, a California consumer lending company (Colfax), and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Culver Capital, LLC, a Georgia consumer lender (Culver) (formerly known as Rome Finance Co.… Continue Reading

The CFPB has announced a senior leadership change and two new hires.  It also announced new appointments to its Consumer Advisory Board, Community Bank Advisory Council, and Credit Union Advisory Council.

The CFPB announced the following senior leadership change and new hires:

  • Will Wade-Gery will serve as the Assistant Director for Card and Payments Markets. 
Continue Reading

On August 26, 2014, the CFPB staff and Federal Reserve Board co-hosted a webinar and addressed questions about the final TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosures Rule that will be effective for applications received by creditors or mortgage brokers on or after August 1, 2015.  The webinar is the second in a planned series intended to address the new rule. … Continue Reading

We recently learned that earlier this month, the CFPB sent letters to payday lenders demanding copies of certain of their standard loan agreements for use in connection with the CFPB’s arbitration study.  The letters are accompanied by a CFPB order that orders the lenders to file the agreement with the CFPB. … Continue Reading

A bill (H.R. 5062) recently passed by the House of Representatives would amend the Consumer Financial Protection Act (the CFPA), which is Title X of the Dodd-Frank legislation, to provide protection against waiver of state and federal law privileges for nondepository institutions supervised by the CFPB.

Entitled the “Examination and Supervisory Privilege Parity Act of 2014,” the bill received strong support from the American Financial Services Association (AFSA).… Continue Reading

The latest chapter in the CFPB’s “comprehensive effort to address consumer harm and to root out unlawful practices across the debt settlement industry” is a settlement announced yesterday with Global Client Solutions, “a leading debt-settlement payment processor,” its CEO, and the chairman of its parent company’s board of directors.  In its complaint filed in a California federal court concurrently with the proposed stipulated final judgment and consent order, the CFPB alleged that the defendants had violated the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR) by assisting and facilitating the charging of unlawful advance fees by debt-relief companies (DRCs) and that such unlawful conduct also violated the Consumer Financial Protection Act. … Continue Reading

Concurrently with a proposal from the Fed to repeal Regulation AA (12 CFR part 227), the CFPB and the federal banking agencies (Fed, OCC, FDIC and NCUA) have issued interagency guidance regarding unfair or deceptive credit practices.

The Fed adopted Reg AA in 1985 pursuant to a directive in Section 18(f)(1) of the FTC Act requiring the Fed to issue rules applicable to banks that were substantially similar to rules issued by the FTC to prohibit unfair or deceptive acts or practices by nonbanks. … Continue Reading