News By Edition

Mitch Kider, managing director at Weiner Brodsky Kider PC, and his firm have worked with PHH Corp. for six years in its battle against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Now that the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals’ en banc ruling in PHH Corp. v. CFPB has been issued, he told RESPA News what he believes is the most important part of the decision – that the decision regarding due process puts an end to the bureau’s controversial process of regulation by enforcement.

Read on for more from Kider on the ruling’s impact on due process, RESPA interpretation and the constitutionality of the CFPB.

More than two years after the implementation of TRID, a new report shows loan defects related to TRID have declined dramatically.

MetaSource released its annual study of post-close quality control mortgage audits, covering tens of thousands of loans. Strategic Account Manager Brady Meadows sat down with RESPA News to go over the highlights, providing insight on how the change from TRID problems to more typical mortgage defects has happened.

Read on for more, including one of the key pain points for technology in managing compliant closings.

Federal lawmakers present and past, state attorneys general, financial regulation scholars and consumer groups recently filed amici briefs in the English v. Trump appeal in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Their arguments in favor of Leandra English’s appointment as acting director run from the plain language argument from the Dodd-Frank Act to the independence of federal agencies to the public interest.

Read on for highlights of the arguments filed in their briefs.

Following a request for information (RFI) on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) enforcement procedures that presented fewer questions than might have been expected, the bureau’s latest RFI on supervision returns to asking for more details.

The RFI provides 12 areas in which the CFPB is seeking public input, including questions regarding its exam process and requests, communications with supervised entities and its onsite examinations.

Read on for more about the RFI and when your deadline to submit comments will be.

The Federal Reserve Board announced that it is seeking to permanently bar Peter Little, the former head of the foreign exchange (FX) spot desk at Barclays Bank PLC in New York, from employment in the banking industry and to impose a $487,500 fine on him.

The enforcement proceedings follow the Fed’s actions prohibiting former Barclays FX traders Christopher Ashton and Michael Weston from employment in the banking industry, as well as the May 2015 enforcement action against Barclays for unsafe and unsound practices in its FX market practices.

Read on for more about the latest enforcement from the Fed.

The recent announcement that changes from the tax cut bill passed in December would lead Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to require a draw from the Treasury Department did not sit well with House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), a longtime critic of the government-sponsored entities (GSEs).

However, the news that Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mel Watt instructed the GSEs to continue making payments to the Housing Trust Fund and Capital Magnet Fund was enough to push Hensarling to write to Watt, demanding an explanation, and calling the decision “deeply troubling.”

Read on for details of Hensarling’s letter to Watt.

A recent investigative report by Reveal News examined fair housing lending in major markets across the U.S. The overall findings showed that blacks and Latinos were routinely denied conventional loans far more often than whites.

However, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) quickly refuted the report. MBA Chief Economist Mike Fratantoni was cited in the story, but MBA said in a statement that the investigation was lacking.

Read on for more about what MBA disputed within the report.

Treliant announced Susanna K. Tisa has been appointed CEO. Tisa is a founding member of the firm, most recently serving as Chief Business Officer. Andrew L. Sandler, who has been the firm’s CEO since its inception, will become the firm’s chairman, succeeding Mark W. Olson. 

Bricker & Eckler’s Public Finance team recently announced the addition of one attorney and the promotion of another. Katie E. Johnson, who began her legal career with Bricker, has returned to the firm as a partner. Additionally, Robert F. McCarthy has been elected a partner.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) may be re-examining many of its cases, policies and procedures under acting director Mick Mulvaney. But Congress is looking to ensure that title insurance disclosures are clarified now, with or without the bureau’s action.

The TRID Improvement Act of 2017 passed the full House of Representatives on Wednesday. The act itself will provide for the allowance of disclosure of simultaneously issued title insurance rates – which the CFPB’s TRID forms currently do not allow.

Industry advocates and House members showered praise on the bill and its primary sponsor, Rep. French Hill (R-Ark.). Read on for details of the bill, reaction, and Hill’s full remarks from the House floor.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) final case filed under Director Richard Cordray has been stayed.

The case against Think Finance was brought in federal court in Montana on Nov. 15, nine days before Cordray announced his resignation.

What’s behind the move, and is this another in a succession of cases and enforcement actions in which the CFPB has dropped or halted activity? Read on for more.

Two banks will pay more than half a billion dollars in civil penalties in enforcement actions over their Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering compliance deficiencies.

The actions involving the Department of Justice, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency bring closure to enforcements dating to 2013 for Rabobank National Association and to 2011 for U.S. Bank.

Read on for more about the penalties handed out, and how compliance systems at the banks failed to stop millions of dollars in money-laundering transactions.

Will the third time be the charm?

For the third consecutive congressional session, the House passed the Mortgage Choice Act, a bill which changes the way points and fees are calculated by excluding fees paid for affiliated title charges and escrow charges for insurance and taxes.

The bill got substantial bipartisan support despite calls from the committee ranking member that it would “allow title insurance companies to jack up prices on borrowers and allow lenders to receive what would otherwise be illegal kickbacks.” Read on for more details and reactions.

Seven states have agreed to a multi-state compact that standardizes key elements of the licensing process for money services businesses (MSB), the Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS) announced.

The agreement states that if one state reviews key elements of state licensing for a money transmitter – IT, cybersecurity, business plan, background check, and compliance with the federal Bank Secrecy Act –other participating states agree to accept the findings.

The result is expected to significantly streamline the MSB licensing process.

The House has passed legislation related to TRID for the second time in three years, this time approving a fix to the disclosure of simultaneous issue of title insurance.

The issue, which has been championed by the American Land Title Association (ALTA) and other mortgage industry trade groups since the earliest version of TRID model forms were made public, found bipartisan support at the Financial Services Committee level, but when packaged with five other financial services bills, was generally voted along party lines.

Read on for more details, including reaction from the primary sponsor of the bill, Rep. French Hill of Arkansas.

TRID looks to get its day in the legislative spotlight this week, although it appears it might have to share that spotlight.

The TRID Improvement Act, H.R. 3978, is expected to be brought forward for a vote by the full House this week after amendments will add five other standalone bills to the original TRID act.

Read on for details and insight from Justin Ailes of the American Land Title Association about the process of getting the bill to the floor.

Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty announced he will leave his position as CEO of the Financial Services Roundtable – and he may be headed right back into politics.

Pawlenty is in his sixth year as CEO of FSR, the advocacy organization for the financial services industry. In a press release announcing his decision, Pawlenty said he will step down in March.

Read on for more reaction and potential new plans for Pawlenty.

In a case filed against Ocwen Financial Corp. in Florida, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) says it has rendered charges of unconstitutionality in Ocwen’s complaint moot.

In the court filing, the CFPB states that acting director Mick Mulvaney reviewed the case against Ocwen and ratified the decision to file suit.

Read on to find out why the CFPB believes it has cured constitutional deficiencies with the bureau.

The third in a series of requests for information (RFI) issued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was published Monday regarding the bureau’s enforcement processes.

The comment period for the RFI will extend through April 13, the document in the Federal Register stated.

Unlike previous RFI issued, the enforcement RFI does not concern statutory mandates, and has fewer questions for which public input is requested. Read on for more.

As Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) acting director Mick Mulvaney officially announced the hiring of a new chief of staff, Comptroller of the Currency Joseph Otting met with Mulvaney to discuss coordination between his agency and the CFPB.

Otting released a statement following the meeting, saying he was impressed by Mulvaney, and that the two regulatory leaders shared a common belief.

Read on for more details from the meeting, including Otting’s view of how the CFPB is handling the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act.

Citing both the latest ruling in PHH Corp. v. CFPB as well as a recent memo to the staff of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued by acting director Mick Mulvaney, Freedom Debt Relief earlier this month filed for a motion to dismiss CFPB allegations against the company.

The case is the next-to-last filed by the CFPB under then-Director Richard Cordray, announced Nov. 8. It alleged that Freedom charged consumers without settling their debts as promised, made customers negotiate their own settlements, misled them about fees and services, and failed to inform consumers of their rights to funds they deposited with the company.

Read on for details of the company’s motion to dismiss, and why it cited Mulvaney’s memo in support of its case.

Christopher J. Dusseau has joined Bricker & Eckler LLP as a partner in the law firm’s Banking & Financial Services group. With over a decade of experience representing a private equity fund in all aspects of its investment portfolio, he will join Bricker’s finance and real estate team.

The Barrent Group, a top provider of mortgage loan due diligence, quality control and consulting services, has been added to Standard & Poor’s Global Ratings list of third-party due diligence providers for U.S. residential mortgage-backed securities.  

Changes happening at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are not simply involving process and policy. They now are involving restructuring as well.

That’s the word from acting director Mick Mulvaney in an email to staff Jan. 30, a copy of which was provided to RESPA News. In the email, Mulvaney announced he would be relocating two offices within the bureau structure.

Read on for more on the changes, as well as reaction from Mulvaney’s senior advisor, John Czwartacki.

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals announced an April date for oral arguments in the English v. Trump case concerning the appointment of Mick Mulvaney as acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

The announcement came two days after Leandra English filed her initial brief in the appeal of District Judge Timothy Kelly’s ruling in favor of President Donald Trump.

Read on for more details about oral arguments and English’s latest arguments.

The second in a series of requests for information (RFI) issued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) was published Monday regarding the bureau’s administrative adjudications.

The comment period for the RFI will extend through April 6, the document in the Federal Register stated. The next RFI to be issued will concern the CFPB’s enforcement process, the CFPB announced in a statement.

Read on for details of the request, including what questions the CFPB hopes to get answered through public comment.

The U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, has dismissed the Lower East Side People's Federal Credit Union’s case filed against President Donald Trump over his appointment of Mick Mulvaney as the acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

In dismissing the case, District Judge Paul G. Gardephe looked to the D.C. District Court’s ruling in State National Bank of Big Spring v. Lew to determine whether it had standing in the case, deciding in the end that its four arguments in favor of standing were not sufficiently pled.

Read on for details from the judge’s ruling and reaction from the credit union.

The eighth annual McDonald Hopkins Business Outlook Survey found that businesses are sky high on their outlook for 2018.

For the second consecutive year, nearly 80 percent of the respondents predict improvement in business conditions in the U.S. and their own companies. Results from the 2016 survey found that only 44 percent of respondents expected improved conditions.

Read on for more details from the annual report.

“The panel opinion, insofar as it related to the interpretation of RESPA and its application to PHH and Atrium in this case, is accordingly reinstated as the decision of the three-judge panel on those questions.”

With those 35 words, the world of RESPA interpretation has once again been turned upside down.

Read on for the initial findings of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals' en banc ruling in PHH Corp. v. CFPB.

Although the majority opinion in the en banc ruling on PHH Corp. v. CFPB focused almost entirely on the constitutionality question, there was more about the statutory interpretation of RESPA in the 250-page document.

The breakdown came in a concurring opinion authored by Judge David S. Tatel, with Judges Patricia A. Millet and Nina Pillard.

In this concurrence, the judges say they would have resolved the statutory differences in RESPA differently. Read on to see why they differed.

Although it took more than eight months for the ruling to be issued, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals’ en banc finding that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is constitutionally structured was hardly a surprise.

Talking with Mayer Brown Partner Phillip Schulman following the oral arguments in May 2017, Schulman told RESPA News he did not think the court would find the CFPB’s single-director, removable-only-for-cause structure to be unconstitutional, let alone find the CFPB to be unconstitutional in its entirety, as PHH Corp. argued.

In a majority opinion written by Judge Nina Pillard, the full appellate court did as Schulman expected. Read on for more of its ruling, and why the en banc panel did not agree that the CFPB director held more power than any government official other than the president.

When a three-judge panel at the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals issued its first ruling in PHH Corp. v. CFPB, the decision came in October, five months after oral arguments.

The en banc panel took a little longer, but its decision was treated with cheers from industry observers. The ruling issued Wednesday reinstated the statutory interpretation of RESPA first published in the October 2016 three-judge panel decision. The full court also upheld the constitutional structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

“Given the make up of the en banc court it is not surprising that the court ruled 7-3 that the CFPB is not unconstitutionally structured,” Mayer Brown Partner Phillip Schulman told RESPA News. Read on for more.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) first enforcement action against an online lender has ended with a judicial rebuke nearly as stunning as its case against the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools.

Although a California district court ruled in favor of the CFPB in the case, it declined to confirm the CFPB’s request for restitution from the lender defendants, instead cutting the penalty award to a Tier One violation of the Consumer Financial Protection Act.

What led the district judge to knock down the penalty request, despite issuing partial summary judgment in favor of the CFPB? Read on for the details.

A group of Democratic senators recently wrote the Office of the Comptroller of Currency to express “serious concerns” about the agency’s implementation of recommendations from a review of sales practices at Wells Fargo.

The review report was issued in April 2017, and the letter said the review “recommends the adoption of several initiatives to enhance complaint and whistleblower analysis and follow-up, strengthen supervisory communication and institutional accountability, and ensure systemic root causes of risk are identified and addressed at both the supervised bank and throughout the industry at-large.”

Comptroller Joseph Otting replied in a letter that the senators were wrong to suggest the OCC had not taken steps to implement recommendations. Read on for details of what the OCC has done.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) published its first request for information (RFI) on its practices, this a look into its process for pursuing and issuing civil investigative demands (CIDs).

The request, published Jan. 26, sets a comment deadline of March 27 for the industry to respond.

The CFPB is looking for input on the process both from the general industry it regulates, but also specifically from entities who have received CIDs or attorneys who have represented them. And its request includes questions regarding changing statutes in the Dodd-Frank Act, the potential of eliminating petitions to modify or set aside CIDs, and the overall scope of inquiries. Read on for more.

A New York couple who were going through a loan modification process with their servicer filed a putative class action complaint, alleging that the servicer improperly and untimely processed their mortgage assistance applications so that it could charge them excessive loan delinquency fees.

The servicer, Bank of America, filed a motion to dismiss, but a New York district court found RESPA violations against the company, with the couple sufficiently alleging both actual damages and statutory damages in its case.

Read on for details of the ruling, and why the granting of a loan modification by Bank of America was not enough to keep the couple from sufficiently pleading actual damages.

In response to questions concerning community development activities in areas of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands which were damaged by Hurricane Maria, federal financial regulators issued a statement on Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) consideration.

Specifically, financial institutions have asked whether their community development activities assisting with the aftermath of the hurricane are eligible for CRA consideration even though the disaster areas are outside the institutions’ assessment areas.

Read on for details from the statement and how regulators expect to consider activity on the islands.

Two months into his appointment as acting director at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Mick Mulvaney gave his staff of 1,650 his most clear and detailed vision of the CFPB moving forward.

The memo sought to change the staff’s opinion that it was the good guys acting as the new sheriff in town to fight the bad guys. He sought to put a stop to “the supposed ‘mission.’ ” And he made it clear that regulation by enforcement had seen its best days go by.

Read on for insight from Brian Levy, of counsel at Katten & Temple, LLP, on what the change in mission could mean for the industry.

Nearly four years after receiving a civil investigative demand from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), World Acceptance Corp. found out that its case has been closed.

The company, one of the largest small-loan consumer finance companies with offices in 15 states and Mexico, announced in a recent press release that it received a letter from the CFPB that indicated the investigation into the company’s marketing and lending practices was completed.

Read on for feedback from World Acceptance and the timeline of its investigation by the CFPB.

In its latest edition of the Stratmor Insights Report, senior advisor Rob Chrisman wrote the lead feature about TRID today, and how changes in the leadership at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau could affect rulemaking in the future.

Chrisman noted that TRID rules have had a positive impact on borrowers and lenders, citing STRATMOR’s MortgageSAT data dating back to March 2016 that showed significant improvement in borrower satisfaction scores when borrowers are contacted prior to the loan closing. Increased contact between borrower and lender is one of the key goals of TRID.

Read on for more from Chrisman on TRID and potential rulemaking changes at the bureau.

A former Wells Fargo loan officer who was cited by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in May 2016 for RESPA violations in relation to “illegal mortgage fee-shifting” has filed suit against Wells Fargo for wrongful termination, whistlebower retaliation and fraud, among other allegations.

David Eghbali, who was a loan officer in Wilshire Crescent, Beverly Hills, Calif., filed the suit in California district court Jan. 16. In it, Eghbali claims that his practices were meant to protect clients from fraudulent sales practices conducted by Wells Fargo, and when the bank found out, it offered him to the CFPB as a “lone wolf” to protect its own fraud.

Read on for reaction from Wells Fargo as well as details on the allegations from the former loan officer.

Following a presidentially mandated review of rulemaking by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), HUD announced it would conducted a full-scale review of its manufactured housing regulations.

HUD said that the plan was to identify current or planned regulatory actions to assess potential compliance costs and whether they were justified “against the backdrop of the nation’s shortage of affordable housing.”

Read on for more about what HUD is asking the industry to weigh in on during the review.

In an active week for acting director Mick Mulvaney at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the CFPB announced that it would not seek additional funding from the Federal Reserve to operate in the second quarter of fiscal 2018.

That move came because Mulvaney determined the CFPB would need $145 million to meet its demands in the quarter, and the CFPB has more than $177 million in what Mulvaney termed a “reserve fund” at the Fed.

Read on for more about the request from Mulvaney, the CFPB’s account with the Fed, and reaction from Capitol Hill.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) provided compliance insight in three areas in its latest semiannual risk report, based on data through June 30, 2017.

The OCC detailed challenges facing compliance with the Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering rules, the work continuing to be done on gaining full compliance with TRID, as well as new rules governing the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act and the Military Lending Act, and the lag which some compliance management systems are finding in monitoring evolving risk.

Read on for details about the OCC’s insights and how it expects banks and third parties to ensure compliance today.

The start of Leandra English’s appeal of a D.C. district court ruling in favor of President Donald Trump’s appointment of Mick Mulvaney as acting director will be Jan. 30.

Both sides in the case filed briefs with the court, with English’s team suggesting her opening brief be due Jan. 30, and the government not taking issue with the schedule starting then.

However, the government did take issue with one aspect of the proposed schedule. Read on for more from the case.

Ocwen Financial Corp. announced a number of items in a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Ocwen entered into a new agreement with New Residential Investment Corp. over mortgage servicing rights, came to agreement with two more states to settle regulatory matters, made a decision on the future of its automotive capital services business and completed the settlement of a class-action lawsuit against the firm.

Read on for more details about the latest news with Ocwen.