Category Archives: CFPB Exams

CFPB releases exam procedures for new mortgage rules

By Reid F. Herlihy on June 7th, 2013 Posted in CFPB Exams, CFPB Rulemaking, Mortgages

This week, the CFPB published an update to its examination procedures to account for the new mortgage regulations going into effect in January 2014. The update includes Interim TILA Examination Procedures and Interim ECOA Examination Procedures, which address the subject matter areas listed below. According to the CFPB’s press release, the updated exam procedures were… More >

CFPB and Conference of State Bank Supervisors sign framework for coordinating supervision and enforcement

By John D. Socknat on May 23rd, 2013 Posted in CFPB Enforcement, CFPB Exams

The CFPB announced earlier this week that it has established a “framework” with the Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS) for coordination among the CFPB and state regulators on supervision and enforcement matters. The framework states that it is “intended to establish a process for coordinated federal/state consumer protection supervision and enforcement of entities providing consumer… More >

Notes from CFPB Education Conference for State Attorneys General

By Reid F. Herlihy on May 13th, 2013 Posted in CFPB Enforcement, CFPB Exams, CFPB Rulemaking

The George Mason University School of Law, Law & Economics Center recently hosted a conference titled “Understanding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau,” through GMU’s Attorneys General Education Program. Founded in 2009, the program was created to provide economic and public policy educational programming to state attorneys general and their staff attorneys from across the country. … More >

What is the CFPB thinking? An update from PLI’s 18th Annual Consumer Financial Services Institute

By Stefanie Jackman on May 6th, 2013 Posted in CFPB Enforcement, CFPB Exams

Last week, I had the opportunity to hear several high-ranking lawyers with the CFPB speak at PLI’s 18th Annual Consumer Financial Services Institute in Chicago. As an initial matter, the attendees owe a debt of thanks to each of CFPB lawyers for taking the time to attend the seminar, which Alan Kaplinsky co-chaired. I know… More >

The role of CFPB enforcement attorneys at exams: the picture is getting clearer

By Alan S. Kaplinsky on April 9th, 2013 Posted in CFPB Enforcement, CFPB Exams

Remarks made by Ori Lev, the CFPB’s Deputy Enforcement Director for Litigation, at the ABA Consumer Financial Services Committee’s spring meeting last week further clarified the role of CFPB enforcement attorneys in CFPB exams. His remarks, coupled with comments made by another CFPB official at the Committee’s winter meeting, leave no doubt that the enforcement… More >

ABA programs to feature Ballard attorneys

By Mark J. Furletti on April 5th, 2013 Posted in CFPB Enforcement, CFPB Exams, Fair Lending

If you are at the American Bar Association’s Business Law Section meeting in Washington, D.C. today, you should consider attending a fair lending program that I will be moderating. The program, entitled “You’ve Received Fair Warning on Fair Lending. Now What?”, will be held at 10:30 am at the Washington Hilton in the International Ballroom… More >

CFPB recruiting more examiners

By Barbara S. Mishkin on March 15th, 2013 Posted in CFPB Exams

The sequester does not appear to be putting a crimp in the CFPB’s recruiting efforts. A new post on the CFPB’s blog announces that the Bureau is recruiting examiners for its supervision team to conduct examinations of banks and nonbanks. Interested candidates must apply by March 22. The CFPB’s recruiting campaign could be an indication that… More >

OIG to look at presence of CFPB enforcement attorneys in exams

By Alan S. Kaplinsky on March 6th, 2013 Posted in CFPB Enforcement, CFPB Exams

The CFPB’s practice of bringing enforcement attorneys to examinations has been a continuing concern for industry. In particular, supervised entities worry that the participation of enforcement attorneys in examinations inhibits free and open communication, and signals the CFPB’s intention to use the examination process as a development ground for enforcement actions. We were pleased to… More >

Chamber of Commerce suggests improvements for CFPB exams and investigations

By Alan S. Kaplinsky on February 19th, 2013 Posted in CFPB Enforcement, CFPB Exams

In a letter sent last week to Director Cordray, the Chamber of Commerce’s Center for Capital Markets Competitiveness suggested several steps “based upon the actual experiences of numerous individual businesses” for the CFPB to take “to eliminate inefficiency and unjustified burdens in connection with its supervision and investigatory processes.” In the area of investigations, the… More >

The CFPB and privilege: the fight isn’t over

By Steven D. Burt and Daniel JT McKenna on January 11th, 2013 Posted in CFPB Enforcement, CFPB Exams

We blogged recently about H.R. 4014, which President Obama signed into law near the end of 2012. The law identifies the CFPB as a regulator to whom a regulated entity may submit privileged information without waiving any state or federal law privilege and provides that the CFPB may share privileged information of a regulated entity with other… More >

More on enforcement attorneys and supervisory exams

By Trevor Salter on January 7th, 2013 Posted in CFPB Enforcement, CFPB Exams

The discussions at the ABA Consumer Financial Services Winter Meeting have reached biblical proportions (literally). The participants on yesterday’s CFPB Exams and Enforcement panel read from the New Testament on “ravening wolves in sheep’s clothing” (later clarified as NOT a reference to CFPB enforcement attorneys) and how the “wise man built his house upon a… More >

Gotcha-free exams

By Mark J. Furletti on January 7th, 2013 Posted in CFPB Exams

I am at the ABA Consumer Financial Services Committee’s meeting in Naples, Florida. (There is record attendance at this year’s meeting—nearly 225 consumer financial services lawyers. I am sure that the CFPB deserves some credit for this.) And yesterday morning, I listened to a panel on CFPB exams and enforcement actions on which Calvin Hagins,… More >

President signs ATM fee sticker bill and CFPB privilege waiver bill

By Barbara S. Mishkin on December 26th, 2012 Posted in CFPB Exams, CFPB General

On December 20, 2012, President Obama signed into law (1) the bill amending the Electronic Fund Transfer Act (H.R. 4367) to eliminate the ATM fee sticker requirement, and (2) the bill amending the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (H.R. 4014) to provide protection against waiver of the attorney-client privilege when privileged information is shared with the CFPB… More >

CFPB reorganizes supervision staff

By Alan S. Kaplinsky on December 18th, 2012 Posted in CFPB Exams

The CFPB is reorganizing its headquarters staff for supervision so it will no longer be divided into separate offices for nonbank and large bank supervision. While there will continue to be two offices, one office will now be focused on exams and the other will be focused on policy. The exam office will oversee the… More >

Legislation to fix CFPB privilege waiver problem passes Congress

By Barbara S. Mishkin on December 14th, 2012 Posted in CFPB Exams

The U.S. Senate, by unanimous consent, has passed a bill previously approved by the House of Representatives (H.R. 4014) that amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act to provide protection against waiver of the attorney-client privilege when privileged information is shared with the CFPB or by the CFPB with other federal agencies. The bill is expected… More >

CFPB releases first “Supervisory Highlights” report

By Alan S. Kaplinsky on November 5th, 2012 Posted in CFPB Exams, Fair Lending

The CFPB’s release this week of its first “Supervisory Highlights” report reinforces concerns I previously voiced that, instead of establishing industry-wide standards through the rulemaking process, the CFPB plans to use its supervisory and enforcement authority to impose such standards. The report discusses “the most critical” issues and problems detected by CFPB examiners during examinations conducted… More >

CFPB issues bulletin on appeals procedure

By Christopher J. Willis on November 2nd, 2012 Posted in CFPB Exams, Fair Lending

Yesterday, the Bureau released a Bulletin outlining a procedure for supervised entities to appeal certain conclusions and findings made during the examination process. The appeal procedure is somewhat unclear, since the Bulletin is not very specific about the personnel who will decide the appeal or the standard of review that they will use. Indeed, with… More >

Deadline to update FCRA-required forms is approaching

By John L. Culhane, Jr. on October 18th, 2012 Posted in CFPB Exams

We’d like to take this opportunity to remind our clients and friends that the standard FCRA notices that used to refer to the FTC, namely, the Summary of Consumer Rights, the Notice of Furnisher Responsibilities, and the Notice to Users of Consumer Reports of Their Obligations Under the FCRA, all need to be revised to… More >

Diversity standards highlighted in Director Cordray’s remarks to Congressional Black Caucus Foundation

By John L. Culhane, Jr. on September 25th, 2012 Posted in CFPB Exams, Fair Lending

In his remarks last week to the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, CFPB Director Richard Cordray spoke about the role of the Office of Minority and Women Inclusion (OMWI) that various federal agencies are required to establish pursuant to Section 342 of the Dodd-Frank Act. Those agencies include the Fed, Treasury, CFPB, OCC, FDIC, NCUA, SEC… More >

CFPB exams are coming for credit bureaus and consumer reporting agencies

By John L. Culhane, Jr. on September 6th, 2012 Posted in CFPB Exams, CFPB Rulemaking, Credit Reports

With the release of its examination procedures for credit bureaus and consumer reporting agencies, the CFPB is now one step closer to scheduling examinations for the 30 largest companies that it estimates account for about 94 percent of the market (measured by annual receipts). These are the companies it has deemed, by rule effective September… More >

ABA CFPB panel yields interesting comments

By Christopher J. Willis on August 7th, 2012 Posted in CFPB Enforcement, CFPB Exams, Debt Collection, Hot Issues

On Friday, August 3, I had the pleasure of speaking on a panel at the ABA Annual Meeting with Meredith Fuchs, General Counsel of the CFPB, and Michael Gordon, Senior Counselor to the Director of the CFPB. Also on the panel were Mark Metz from Bank of America, Jean Noonan from Hudson Cook, and Reginald… More >

With Bi-Partisan Support, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Introduces Bill Combining ATM Fee Notice and CFPB Anti-Privilege Waiver Provisions

By Keith R. Fisher on July 25th, 2012 Posted in CFPB Exams, Deposit Accounts

On Tuesday July 17, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Johnson (D.-SD) introduced a new bill, S. 3394, which combines two consumer-related regulatory initiatives that had already been separately introduced and passed by the House of Representatives. These are (1) eliminating one of the automated teller machine (“ATM”) fee notice provisions (so-called “ATM placard regulation”), passed… More >

CFPB’s MOU for coordinating supervision with banking agencies includes plans for sharing information

By Barbara S. Mishkin on June 7th, 2012 Posted in CFPB Exams

On June 4, the CFPB, jointly with the Fed, FDIC, NCUA and OCC, announced that the agencies were releasing a “Memorandum of Understanding on Supervisory Coordination” (MOU). The MOU was signed by the CFPB on May 3 and by the other agencies on various dates in May, with the Fed and NCUA signing last on… More >

CFPB proposes procedures for supervising non-banks engaged in conduct deemed risky to consumers

By Stefanie Jackman on May 24th, 2012 Posted in CFPB Exams, CFPB General, CFPB Rulemaking

Today, the CFPB proposed a rule setting up procedures for supervising non-banks that the CFPB believes are engaging in, or may have engaged in, activities that pose risks to consumers. Under the Dodd-Frank Act, the CFPB has authority to supervise any nonbank that it has reasonable cause to determine is engaging in, or has engaged,… More >