With the first anniversary of when it officially opened its doors for business only a month away, the CFPB has made several changes in its leadership.  The changes announced this week include new positions for four existing senior staff members and the addition of two new senior staff members from outside the CFPB.  … Continue Reading

Although it dealt with the Department of Labor’s (DOL) interpretation of a Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) regulation, the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision issued earlier this week in Christopher v. Smithkline Beecham Corp. has significant implications for the CFPB’s approach to amicus brief filings. 

In announcing in March that it had filed an amicus brief in a 10th Circuit TILA rescission case, the CFPB stated that it was committed to filing amicus briefs in cases involving the federal consumer financial protection laws it oversees.  … Continue Reading

Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau launched its Consumer Complaint Database, which allows the public to view consumer complaints filed against credit card issuers. The Bureau also announced that it is submitting a request to the Federal Register seeking comments on extending the database to include other financial products in addition to credit cards – any such comments are due by July 19, 2012.… Continue Reading

One of the CFPB’s most worthwhile Dodd-Frank mandates is to help older Americans avoid financial exploitation.

 In addition to developing programs to provide financial literacy and counseling to seniors, the CFPB is taking steps to protect seniors from unethical financial advisors. Those steps
include (1) monitoring certifications that designate financial advisors as specially qualified to serve seniors and alerting the SEC or state regulators of certifications that are identified as unfair, deceptive or abusive, and (2) making legislative and regulatory recommendations to Congress on best practices for educating seniors on the legitimacy of advisor certifications and methods a senior can use to identify an appropriate financial advisor.… Continue Reading

UniversityThe CFPB has finally published the nearly 2,000 comments it received from individual borrowers, parents, and others as a result of the request for information in which it asked a series of questions to assist it in preparing a report about private student loans and set January 17, 2012 as the deadline for responses. … Continue Reading

Sixteen industry trade groups, including the American Bankers Association, the American Financial Services Association and the Mortgage Bankers Association, have written to Director Cordray urging the CFPB to convene a Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act (SBREFA) panel on the proposed ability-to-repay/qualified mortgage rule.  As we reported, on May 31, the CFPB reopened the comment period on the proposed rule issued by the Fed.… Continue Reading

Another federal appellate court has now weighed in on the question of whether a lawsuit seeking rescission is timely where the consumer provided notice of rescission within three years of closing but did not file suit until after the three-year period had passed.

In its decision issued on June 11 in Rosenfield v.… Continue Reading

The CFPB has published another notice in the Federal Register regarding its plans for collecting information on compliance costs.  Last month, we reported on the notice published by the CFPB about its collection of information on the compliance costs associated with the mortgage servicing proposals under development.  Now, the CFPB seeks comments on its overall plans “to collect qualitative information from industry participants regarding the compliance costs and other effects on providers and consumers, both as to existing regulations in force as well as to proposed new regulations.” … Continue Reading

A hearing on “Mortgage Disclosures: How Do We Cut Red Tape for Consumers and Small Businesses?” has been scheduled for June 20 at 1:30 p.m. by the House Financial Services Committee.  The Subcommittee on Insurance, Housing and Community Opportunity will be looking at the CFPB’s efforts to carry out Dodd-Frank’s mandate for the CFPB to create combined TILA/RESPA disclosures.  … Continue Reading

We were disappointed to see that the CFPB’s final Rules Relating to Investigations still include the statement that “requests for extensions of time [to petition for an order modifying or setting aside civil investigative demands (CIDs)] are disfavored.” 

The CFPB says that its policy of disfavoring extensions “means to prompt recipients to decide within 20 days whether they intend to comply with the CID.”  … Continue Reading