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LO Comp compliance squarely on regulators’ radar (Part 1)
Posted Date: Friday, January 22, 2016
It’s no surprise that three of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s examination policies for 2016 will include its Ability-to-Repay (ATR) and Qualified Mortgage (QM) rules, market service agreements (MSAs) and the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure (TRID) rules. But the LO Comp rule also made the list as a priority. What do you need to know to stay compliant? Read on to learn more.
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Cordray sends direct answers to MBA regarding TRID
Posted Date: Thursday, December 31, 2015
After Mortgage Bankers Association President and CEO David Stevens had sent the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau several inquiries seeking clarity regarding the implementation and enforcement of the of the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure rule, CFPB Director Richard Cordray answered several those inquiries in a Dec. 29, 2015, letter. Read on to learn more.
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CFPB releases factsheet on construction loans under TRID
Posted Date: Tuesday, January 12, 2016
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has released a two-page factsheet on construction loans and their place under the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure (TRID) rules, also known as the Know Before You Owe disclosure rule. The factsheet covers the procedures to follow if the creditor decides to finance the construction phase and permanent phase.
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FTC announces recovery against payday lenders
Posted Date: Friday, January 8, 2016
The Federal Trade Commission has entered into two settlement agreements with payday lenders Red Cedar Services Inc. and SFS Inc. in regards to its April 2012 complaint against Red Cedar, SFS, AMG Services, Inc., and MNE Services, Inc. and other related entities and individuals. So far, the commission has recovered about $25.5 million and an estimated $353 million in waived debt, and it’s not done yet.
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What you need to know about NCUA’s IOLTA rule
Posted Date: Thursday, December 31, 2015
Implementing amendments from the Insurance Parity Act, the National Credit Union Administration issued a final rule regarding its share insurance regulations for interest on lawyers trust accounts (IOLTAs) and “other similar escrow accounts.” Read on to learn more about the rule, what sort of accounts it covers and its feedback from the Credit Union National Association.
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FHFA finalizes FHLB rule, captive insurers out
Posted Date: Friday, January 15, 2016
The Federal Housing Finance Agency has adopted a final rule revising its regulations on Federal Home Loan Bank membership. Read on to find out how the agency plans to keep ineligible entities from circumventing the previous membership requirements and what representatives from the Mortgage Bankers Association and American Bankers Association had to say in response to the rule.
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SEC touts 2016 exam priorities
Posted Date: Tuesday, January 12, 2016
The Securities and Exchange and Commission released its examination priorities for the upcoming year. There will be new areas of focus – including the two most popular investment products – as well as continued focus on retail investors and cybersecurity controls at broker-dealers and investment advisers.
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CFTC grants relief for swap clearings
Posted Date: Tuesday, January 12, 2016
In response to a letter sent by the American Bankers Association, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission has provided enforcement relief for bank holding companies and savings and loan holding companies with consolidated assets of $10 billion or less regarding its swap clearing requirements under the Commodity Exchange Act. Read on to find out who else falls under the rule’s exception.
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College cards: Enforcement, reports and warnings
Posted Date: Thursday, December 31, 2015
Financial regulators such as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau continued to address student lending concerns. The corporation entered into a settlement agreement with two companies it found in violation of the Federal Trade Commission Act’s UDAP standard while the bureau released its annual college credit card report, along with warning letters and a new toolkit. Read on to learn more.
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SEC awards ‘company outsider’ for detailed analysis
Posted Date: Friday, January 22, 2016
A whistleblower has been awarded more than $700,000 for providing a detail analysis to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The individual was a “company outsider” but one official stated that the voluntary submission of information from industry experts is as valuable as first-hand knowledge of wrongdoing provided by company insiders. Read on to learn more.
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CFPB told to fix handling of private information
Posted Date: Tuesday, January 19, 2016
Despite the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s expansive data collection practices and its recent expansion of data reporting requirements under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act – where covered entities will report data to the bureau – the CFPB has its own needs for improving data cataloguing and storage activities. Read on to find out what else KPMG LLP, a global audit, tax and advisory firm, found in its independent audit of the bureau.
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Banks rake in more than $6 billion from fees
Posted Date: Tuesday, January 19, 2016
JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo – the three largest banks in the U.S. – earned more than $6 billion last year from ATM and overdraft fees, the equivalent of every American adult paying $25. Overall, American banks took in an estimated $32.5 billion in overdraft fees, and $42.3 billion in total fees. The news is likely to draw more attention to the product as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau begins its rulemaking process on overdraft. Read on to learn more.
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Mid America extends offer to purchase loans
Posted Date: Tuesday, January 5, 2016
Mid America Mortgage, Inc., a multi-state mortgage lender with nearly 30 branches in the U.S., has announced that it is interested in purchasing loans with TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure (TRID) infractions, even if a previous investor rejected the loan. Read on to learn what company CEO Jeff Bode had to say.
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‘Temporary setback’ won’t keep Quicken Loans
Posted Date: Tuesday, January 5, 2016
A federal judge in the D.C. District has dismissed Quicken Loan’s pre-emptive lawsuit against the Department of Justice and Department of Housing and Urban Development. The mortgage lender had alleged that the agencies were trying to force the company into admitting that it knowingly submitted improperly underwritten, Federal Housing Administration-insured loans. Read on for more details.
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Lawmakers call for investigation of home company
Posted Date: Tuesday, January 19, 2016
An investigation of Warren Buffett-led Berkshire Hathaway’s subsidiaries, Clayton Homes, Vanderbilt Mortgage and 21st Mortgage, has been called for by House Financial Services Committee Ranking Member Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and Reps. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) and Michael Capuano (D-Mass.) in a letter to the Department of Justice and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Read on to learn more.
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HELOC resets will put focus on servicing
Posted Date: Tuesday, January 5, 2016
A recent report by Black Knight Financial Services showed that a wave of home equity line of credit resets is coming in 2016, the largest such wave in more than a decade. With delinquency rates of resets from 2014 and 2015 rising dramatically, are mortgage lenders and servicers prepared to handle potential servicing challenges ahead? Read on to learn more about the report.
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Debt collectors handed 130 enforcement actions
Posted Date: Tuesday, January 19, 2016
As debt collection continues its path to becoming the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s most complained-about financial product or service, federal, state and local law enforcers are cracking down on deceptive and abusive debt collection practices through the Operation Collection Protection enforcement initiative. Read on to learn more.
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Problems found in CFPB retirement planner
Posted Date: Friday, January 8, 2016
In a letter to Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray, Sens. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) and Michael Enzi (R-Wyo.) expressed their concerns about discrepancies found between the bureau’s online retirement planner and the Social Security Administration’s Quick Calculator. The senators have demanded that the bureau provide answers regarding the development of the planner. Read on to learn what other information that lawmakers are seeking.
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Buyers not using CFPB’s mortgage-shopping toolkit
Posted Date: Friday, January 15, 2016
Potential homebuyers don’t seem to be using the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s mortgage shopping toolkit, according to Quicken Loans CEO Bill Emerson and others. The National Association of Realtors had found in a survey that one-stop mortgage shopping had increased substantially. Read on to learn more.
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How corrected Census Bureau data will affect private fixed investment, GDP estimates
Posted Date: Tuesday, January 12, 2016
After including within a footnote for its November 2015’s construction spending estimate that 10 years’ worth of data needed to be corrected, the U.S. Census Bureau has released a FAQ on how that spending data affects the Bureau of Economic Analysis’ quarterly and annual estimates of private fixed investment and GDP. Read more to find out what the bureau had to say.
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LO Comp: Your records better match up
Posted Date: Tuesday, January 26, 2016
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Deputy Assistant Director for Originations Calvin Hagins stated that compliance with the loan originator compensation rule will be among the top four examination priorities – the others being compliance with market service agreements under RESPA and the Ability-to-Repay/Qualified Mortgage and the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure rules. One of the most importance parts of the LO Comp rule is recordkeeping. Read on to learn more.
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SEC charges executives, board members with fraud
Posted Date: Tuesday, January 19, 2016
The Securities and Exchange Commission has brought fraud charges against 11 former executives and board members at Superior Bank and its holding company, Superior Bancorp, for their involvement in alleged schemes to conceal the extent of loan losses in the wake of the financial crisis. Nine of the defendants have settled. Read on to learn more.
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ICBA lands FASB meeting for community bankers
Posted Date: Friday, January 15, 2016
In response to a letter from the Independent Community Bankers of America’s president and CEO, the Financial Accounting Standards Board will convene a full board meeting with community bankers to hear how the current expected credit loss model is impacting them. James Kendrick, vice president of accounting and capital policy at the ICBA, spoke with Dodd Frank Update.
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Credit unions blast finalized HMDA rule
Posted Date: Friday, January 15, 2016
The National Association of Federal Credit Unions has estimated that the average initial and ongoing annual costs for its members to comply with the data reporting requirements under the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s finalized Home Mortgage Disclosure Act will be more than $13,000 and $4,000 respectively. The group, along with the Credit Union National Association, has expressed concerns regarding the new requirements. Read on to learn more.
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HUD charges foreclosure rescue companies for FHA violations
Posted Date: Friday, January 15, 2016
The Department of Justice and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are not the only federal agencies that can bring fair lending charges. The Department of Housing and Urban Development has filed a charge of discrimination under the Fair Housing Act after finding reasonable cause to believe that three home loan modification companies and nine of their agents discriminated against homeowners on the basis of national origin. “Families struggling to stay in their homes need real help, not false promises that make a bad situation worse,” Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity Gustavo Velasquez said.
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Fed reports $100 billion in profits in 2015, says currency costs outpace CFPB
Posted Date: Friday, January 15, 2016
The Federal Reserve Board has released information regarding payments made to the U.S. Treasury under the new requirement under the FAST Act, the amount of money assessed for producing, issuing and retiring currency and the amount for funding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Read on for more details.
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Brown to Obama: Get cracking on Title XII’s small-dollar provisions
Posted Date: Tuesday, January 12, 2016
In a letter to President Barack Obama, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) has asked that funding in the fiscal year (FY) 2017 budget be prioritized for implementing Sections 1204, 1205 and 1206 of the Dodd-Frank Act, which are part of the Improving Access to Mainstream Financial Institutions Act. Small-dollar lending and access-to-credit have been highly contentious talking points among regulators and industry members. Read on for more details.
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Agency alerts: CFPB seeks HMDA resubmission guidance, Call Report instructions released
Posted Date: Tuesday, January 12, 2016
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is seeking comments on its resubmission guidelines for mortgage lending data submitted under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, which has extensively expanded reporting requirements. Also, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and Federal Reserve Board have released materials pertaining to Call Reports for the Dec. 31, 2015, report date.
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NAFCU: Final overdraft rules won’t come in 2016
Posted Date: Friday, January 8, 2016
A report from the National Association of Federal Credit Unions says that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau does not plan to issue a final rule on overdraft practices in 2016. Read on for more details.
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Thank you for complying, now pay up
Posted Date: Friday, January 8, 2016
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency terminated two mortgage servicing-related consent orders against JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. and EverBank after determining that the banks have come into compliance with them. However, that’s not all the agency said. Read on to learn more.
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CFPB names acting deputy director to replace Fuchs, Antonakes
Posted Date: Friday, January 8, 2016
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has announced its new acting deputy director, who will be replacing Meredith Fuchs, who took over the position after Steven Antonakes resigned from the position in July 2015. The new acting director previously served as deputy general counsel of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations. Read on to learn more.
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Census Bureau corrects inaccurate housing data
Posted Date: Friday, January 8, 2016
The U.S. Census Bureau announced within its release for November 2015’s construction spending estimate that it will be revising 10 years’ worth of data. There had been a processing error in the tabulation of data on private residential improvement spending. Read on to learn more.
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CFPB’s case against CashCall to move forward
Posted Date: Tuesday, January 5, 2016
The U.S. District Court for the Central District of California denied CashCall, Inc.’s motion for judgment on the pleadings in a case between the company and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The bureau filed its complaint in December 2013, alleging that that the online loan servicer engaged in UDAAP violations by trying to collect on debts that were not owed. Why did the judge deny the defendants’ motion? Read on to find out.
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Senators respond to robocalling authority included within budget bill
Posted Date: Tuesday, January 5, 2016
Title III of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, which was enacted Nov. 2, 2015, amends Section 227(b) of the Communications Act of 1934 by allowing debt collection robocalls. Four senators have written a letter to the Department of Education asking for clarity on how the amendments should be interpreted. Read on to find out why the senators are concerned the amendments may lead to abusive debt collection practices against student borrowers.
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Small institutions discuss compliance costs in GAO report
Posted Date: Thursday, December 31, 2015
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report titled “Dodd-Frank Regulations: Impacts on community banks, credit unions and systemically important institutions.” Not surprisingly, with regard to select Dodd-Frank Act rules, the community banks, credit unions and industry associations the GAO interviewed cited an increase in compliance costs and burdens. Read on to learn more.
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FTC seeks comments for auto lending survey
Posted Date: Thursday, December 31, 2015
The Federal Trade Commission is seeking public comments on a proposed qualitative survey that will examine consumers’ experiences in buying and financing automobiles at dealerships. Since 2011, the commission has brought more than 25 cases concerning automobile-related transactions, including a law enforcement sweep of 10 actions against auto dealers for deceptive advertising. Read on to learn more about the proposed survey and how to voice your opinion.
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Nationally recognized CRAs continue to improve operations, SEC finds
Posted Date: Thursday, December 31, 2015
The Securities and Exchange Commission issued its two annual staff reports on credit rating agencies registered as nationally recognized statistical rating organizations. The reports indicate that certain operational improvements have been made and that smaller CRAs have made “competitive inroads” in certain rating categories. Read on to learn more.
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Annual privacy notices eliminated under FAST Act
Posted Date: Tuesday, December 29, 2015
A change to the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act that was signed into law by President Obama means financial institutions that are planning to send out annual privacy notices at the start of 2016 might not have to do so, according to what the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau told a credit union trade agency. Read on to learn more about the changes incorporated within the FAST Act.
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Is a parking fine a debt under the FDCPA?
Posted Date: Tuesday, December 29, 2015
Fine or debt? A case in Illinois is being decided on whether an unpaid parking-lot fee is a fine or is considered a debt under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, and on appeal, the Federal Trade Commission and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau filed an amicus brief to let add their views to the discussion. Read on to see what they agencies have to say on the dispute.
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Attorneys face $3.1 million penalty for alleged lawsuit mill
Posted Date: Tuesday, December 29, 2015
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) filed a proposed consent order in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia against Frederick J. Hanna & Associates, P.C. and its three principal partners – Frederick J. Hanna, Joseph C. Cooling and Robert A. Winter – for allegedly operating an illegal debt collection lawsuit mill. Read on to find out why the Consumer Financial Protection Act’s “practice-of-law” exclusion did not apply.
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FHFA releases agenda for GSEs, MBA responds
Posted Date: Tuesday, December 29, 2015
The Federal Housing Finance Agency released its annual Scorecard for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The Scorecard serves as an agenda by setting specific priorities for the two companies while they remain in conservatorship. Goals include reducing taxpayer risks, building a new single-family securitization infrastructure and addressing front-end risk transfer. Read on to learn what Mortgage Bankers Association President and CEO David Stevens had to say about the announcement.
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Fraud and scams are the top money transfer complaint
Posted Date: Tuesday, December 29, 2015
In its sixth complaint snapshot, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau directed its attention on consumer complaints regarding money transfers and the geographic region of Georgia and the Atlanta metro area. The bureau also examined national complaint trends. You may be surprised by which product’s complaints have increased by about 215 percent and which product has had the greatest decrease. Read on to learn more.
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Average CPI-W decrease leads to adjusted asset thresholds under CRA, HMDA and TILA
Posted Date: Tuesday, December 29, 2015
Based on the annual percentage change in the average of the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, the Federal Reserve Board, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau have announced the annually adjusted asset thresholds for financial institutions covered under the Community Reinvestment Act, the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act and the Truth in Lending Act. The final rules become effective Jan. 1, 2016.
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Enforcement action accompanied by compliance bulletin
Posted Date: Tuesday, December 22, 2015
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau filed a consent order against a payday and installment lender for unfair and deceptive acts or practices under the Dodd-Frank Act’s UDAAP prohibition and the Electronic Fund Transfer Act. On the very same day, the bureau also released a compliance bulletin highlighting the legal risks of in-person collection practices under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Read on or more details on the enforcement action and bulletin.
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CFPB release criticized by Native American organization
Posted Date: Tuesday, December 22, 2015
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s press releases are in the spotlight once again, but not from concerns expressed by companies and lawmakers. The Native American Financial Services Association has called statements from the bureau “false and offensive” in response to a release concerning TSLeads, a lead aggregator that sold consumer information to some lenders tied to Indian tribes. Read on for what the organization had to say and to learn about the bureau’s guiding principles for tribal consultations.
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Agencies offer risk management guidance for CRE lending
Posted Date: Tuesday, December 22, 2015
After seeing substantial growth in many commercial real estate (CRE) asset and lending markets, increased competitive pressures, rising CRE concentrations in banks and an easing of CRE underwriting standards, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Reserve Board issued a joint statement to reinforce prudent risk-management practices. Read on to see what the banking agencies had to say to the industry.
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FTC concludes cases against mortgage modification scammers
Posted Date: Tuesday, December 22, 2015
The Federal Trade Commission has reached settlements against four individuals it found to be involved in a mortgage modification relief scam. The commission found that the individuals deceived consumers under its prohibition of UDAP under the Federal Trade Commission Act by making false promises to help consumers modify their mortgages. It was found that mortgage payments were being stolen.
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RealEC’s perspective of life after TRID
Posted Date: Friday, December 18, 2015
Moody’s recently reported that in an assessment of mortgage loans reviewed that 90 percent were in violation of the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure (TRID) rules, and anecdotally, reports of connection problems with portals have led many lenders and settlement agents to conduct TRID closings through email exchanges rather than direct connection. RealEC Division President Dan Sogorka, whose company makes the Closing Insight portal, spoke with Dodd Frank Update about the feedback the company has received from its clients in the first two months of TRID.
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Auto dealer to pay penalty for furnisher’s inaccurate information
Posted Date: Friday, December 18, 2015
Buy-here, pay-here auto dealer, CarHop, and its financing company, Universal Acceptance Corporation, have been hit with a $6,465,000 civil money penalty for violations of the Consumer Financial Protection Act’s prohibition of UDAAP and the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau determined that the companies furnished inaccurate information regarding customers’ accounts to credit reporting agencies. Read on for more details.
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What it’s really like to work at the CFPB
Posted Date: Friday, December 18, 2015
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released its fourth annual employee survey that it will use to develop strategies to better serve employee needs. Earlier this year, the CFPB experienced a change within its upper management and was the subject of discrimination claims in a hearing before the House Financial Services Committee. Although these topics were not addressed directly, employees were able to voice their thoughts on diversity and inclusion and the bureau’s leadership. Read on for more details.
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‘Rampant abuse’ leads to Telemarketing Services Rule amendments
Posted Date: Friday, December 18, 2015
The Federal Trade Commission has amended the Telemarketing Sales Rule, prohibiting the use of remotely created checks, remotely created payment orders, cash reload mechanisms and cash-to-cash money transfers in all telemarketing transactions. Read on for more details.
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State Department adviser to become CFPB general counsel
Posted Date: Friday, December 18, 2015
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has tapped the U.S. Department of State for a new general counsel with experience in international and domestic legal issues, the United Nations Charter, international arbitration, federal court litigation, regulatory programs, administrative law, ethics and appropriations law. Read on to learn more about her.
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