The New York state legislature is currently considering a pair of companion bills which would impose detailed notice and records requirements upon student loan servicers.  New York Senate bill S5136B, which was passed by the New York Senate earlier this year, and New York House bill A6226B, which is currently under consideration with the New York Legislature’s Consumer Affairs and Protection Committee, would require “creditors and debt collectors” to provide certain written disclosures to borrowers or cosigners of private education loans at the time of the first collection communication (or within five days after the first communication). … Continue Reading

Last week, the CFPB issued a “Student Loan Servicing Special Edition” of Supervisory Highlights.  In this blog post, we highlight a stealth expansion of supervisory jurisdiction and focus on the CFPB’s findings in two key areas:

  • Transcript withholding policies at institutional lenders (e.g. for-profit colleges that make private loans directly to student); and
  • Administration by servicers of Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF), Income-Driven Repayment (IDR), and Teacher Loan Forgiveness (TLF).
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On September 9, 2022, the California Department of Financial Protection & Innovation (the “DFPI”) released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking Action that proposes to adopt regulations implementing the Student Loan Servicing Act (section 28100, et seq.) and the Student Loans: Borrower Rights Law (Civil Code section 1788.100, et seq.). … Continue Reading

In the latest demonstration that there’s a “new CFPB” as well as other new regulatory sheriffs in town, the CFPB, the federal banking agencies (OCC, FDIC, Federal Reserve Board, and NCUA), and state financial regulators issued a joint statement yesterday to announce that they will no longer provide “supervisory and enforcement flexibility” to mortgage servicers in meeting compliance requirements. … Continue Reading

The CFPB Education Loan Ombudsman has issued his annual report covering the period  from September 1, 2020 through August 31, 2021.

The report includes an analysis of the approximately 5,300 complaints related to private or federal student loans that the Bureau received during that period.  While complaints overall during this period trended lower, the decrease was most pronounced for federal student loan complaints which decreased approximately 32% compared to the prior year.… Continue Reading

On November 13, 2020, from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. ET, we will present a webinar on the CFPB’s final collection rule.  Click here for more information and to register.

The CFPB’s debt collection final rule will significantly impact the operations of mortgage servicers.  Not surprisingly, the CFPB declined to generally exempt mortgage servicers from the definition of a “debt collector” under the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”). … Continue Reading

Mortgage origination and servicing continue to be a CFPB supervisory focus.  We review the CFPB’s findings involving the following areas and discuss the findings’ compliance implications: redlining based on nonbank lenders’ advertising practices, improper consideration of applicants’ public assistance income in determining eligibility for mortgage modifications, and violations of servicing requirements relating to providing periodic statements to certain consumers in bankruptcy, force-placed insurance, escrow accounts, and servicing transfers.… Continue Reading

The CFPB has released the Summer 2020 edition of its Supervisory Highlights.  The report discusses the Bureau’s examinations in the areas of consumer reporting, debt collection, deposits, fair lending, mortgage servicing, and payday lending that were completed between September 2019 and December 2019.

Key findings are described below.

Consumer reporting. … Continue Reading

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled last week in Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Navient Corp. that the PA Attorney General could bring a parallel enforcement action against Navient, a servicer of federal student loans, under the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA) even though the CFPB had previously filed a lawsuit against Navient based on the same alleged conduct. … Continue Reading

The New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) has issued proposed regulations to implement the legislation enacted in April 2019 that requires servicers of student loans to be licensed, imposes servicing standards, and prohibits certain practices.  On July 31, the NYDFS published a notice of proposed rulemaking in the State Register, triggering a 60-day comment period.… Continue Reading