On September 12, the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (Bureau) issued a final rule that amends the procedures used by the public to obtain information from the Bureau under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the Privacy Act of 1974, and in legal proceedings.

A number of the rule’s amendments simply align policy with practice. … Continue Reading

As we reported previously, on July 7, 2017 the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) posted on its website long awaited amendments to the TILA/RESPA Integrated Disclosure (TRID) rule, and a proposal to address the so-called “black hole” issue (regarding limits on the ability of a credit to reset tolerances with a Closing Disclosure).… Continue Reading

Dovetailing with President Trump’s recent Executive Order requiring a reduction in regulatory burden, on March 21, 2017, a CFPB official remarked at the American Bankers Association Government Relations Summit that the CFPB was planning to start its review of significant mortgage regulations, including the ability to repay/qualified mortgage rule.

The Dodd-Frank Act requires the CFPB to use available evidence and data to assess all of its rules five years after they go into effect to ensure they are meeting the purposes and objectives of Dodd-Frank, and the specific goals of the subject rule. … Continue Reading

At a panel discussion today on the prepaid account rule, held as part of the meeting of the American Bar Association Committee on Consumer Financial Services in Carlsbad, CA, Kristine Andreassen, the team leader for the CFPB prepaid account rule, left the door open for changes to be made and said that the Bureau wants to hear about problems or issues with the rule.… Continue Reading

In addition to the proposed payday loan rule released yesterday, the CFPB has issued (1) a “Request for Information on Payday Loans, Vehicle Title Loans, Installment Loans, and Open-End Lines of Credit,” and (2) a report titled “Supplemental findings on payday, payday installment, and vehicle title loans, and deposit advance products.”… 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

The Bureau’s Mortgage Servicing Examination Procedures, released on October 13, 2011, offer a fascinating insight into the CFPB’s supervision and enforcement priorities. There’s a great deal worthy of comment in the Procedures, but here I want to highlight one aspect of them: the heavy focus on the Equal Credit Opportunity Act.… Continue Reading

The American Bankers Association (“ABA”) recently submitted its comments on the CFPB’s interim final rule regarding the treatment of confidential information obtained by the CFPB.

Among other things, the ABA recommended the CFPB’s proposed information sharing rule be amended to:

• Ensure supervisory information remains confidential and is not disclosed to third parties except in very limited circumstances so as to promote ongoing dialogue and transparency between the CFPB and its supervised institutions;

• Take into account established limitations on the investigative powers of state Attorneys General and other state law enforcement officials so as to limit the disclosure of confidential supervisory information to such state officials to only those circumstances in which those officials exercise authority to enforce applicable law within a judicial process;

• Limit any regular sharing of confidential information (as defined under Section 1070.2 of Dodd Frank and including but not limited to confidential supervisory information) to federal and state agencies that have financial institution supervisory authority over CFPB supervised institutions; and

• State that the CFPB will not normally share confidential information (as defined under Section 1070.2) with third parties.… Continue Reading