Lost in all the sturm and drang accompanying the President’s recess appointment of Richard Cordray as Director of the CFPB is the fact that one of Director Cordray’s first official acts was to appoint Raj Date as Deputy Director. Why is that important? Assuming that Cordray’s appointment is not invalidated by a court, he will serve until the end of this session of Congress.… Continue Reading

 Although there has been much discussion during the past week as to the legality of President Obama’s appointment of Richard Cordray as the first Director of the CFPB, there has been little discussion of the President’s appointment at the same time of three individuals to fill vacancies on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).… Continue Reading

Last week, the CFPB released Bulletin 12-01, in which it took the position that it can demand attorney-client privileged documents from its supervised institutions without the privilege being waived as to third parties.  It reached this conclusion by relying on a federal statute applicable to the federal banking  agencies, even though the underlying statute does not apply to the CFPB. … Continue Reading

Now that it has a director, the CFPB will waste no time in beginning to exercise its authority to regulate mortgage originators and servicers and payday and student lenders. That’s the message Richard Corday began delivering yesterday following his appointment as CFPB Director. The Dodd-Frank Act gave the CFPB the authority to make rules for and examine these non-bank companies regardless of their size.… Continue Reading

The Internet is alive with the breaking news that President Obama has decided to make a “recess appointment” to name Richard Cordray as the Director of the CFPB.  Unless the appointment is successfully challenged, this move would open up a whole range of powers to the Bureau, including the power to regulate non-bank players and the authority to act under the “unfair, deceptive, or abusive” provisions in the Dodd-Frank Act.… Continue Reading

The Consumer Financial Services Group at Ballard Spahr is pleased to announce the launch of The CFPB Rundown, the latest addition to the extensive resources available on the CFPB Monitor. The CFPB Rundown will provide links to and track the status of CFPB-related legislative and regulatory developments as well as bulletins, policy statements and other guidance or significant information released by the CFPB.… Continue Reading

In September, we reported that the CFPB’s Office of Servicemember Affairs had issued a request for information about the consumer financial services and products and financial education opportunities being offered to servicemembers and their families. Last week, the CFPB used the responses it received to that request (which included responses from 43 credit unions, 8 banks and 2 non-bank financial institutions) to organize five panels who spoke at a Financial Fitness Forum held by the CFPB in Washington, D.C.… Continue Reading

In September, we  reported on the CFPB’s plans to create a new chapter X of CFR title 12 to house the rules for which rulemaking authority was transferred to the CFPB by the Dodd-Frank Act. Last week, the relocation process got underway, with the CFPB’s publication in the Federal Register of three interim final rules that establish the following regulations: Regulation N, 12 CFR Part 1014 (Mortgage Acts and Practices-Advertising), Regulation O, 12 CFR Part 1015 (Mortgage Assistance Relief Services), Regulation F, 12 CFR Part 1006 (FDCPA) and Regulation I, 12 CFR Part 1009 (Disclosure Requirements for Depository Institutions Lacking Federal Deposit Insurance.)… Continue Reading

Chris’ post about the CFPB’s press release and bulletin encouraging “whistleblowers” to report to the CFPB potential violations of federal consumer financial laws is a reminder to banks and other companies to ensure that they have in place appropriate internal reporting procedures sufficient to encourage employees to use them rather than to report directly to the CFPB.… Continue Reading

On December 15, 2011, the CFPB published a press release and a bulletin encouraging “whistleblowers” to either e-mail or call the Bureau with information about “potential violations of federal consumer financial laws.” The announcement itself is not much of a surprise, since section 1057 of Dodd-Frank creates protections for persons who report, or refuse to participate in, violations of the federal consumer financial protection laws administered by the CFPB. … Continue Reading