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Earlier this week, the Bureau released the Winter 2019 edition of Supervisory Highlights.  This marks the first edition issued under the CFPB’s new Director, Kathy Kraninger, who was confirmed to a five-year term in December.  The report describes observations from examinations that were generally completed between June and November 2018 and summarizes recent publicly-released enforcement actions and guidance.

Like the sole edition of Supervisory Highlights issued under Acting Director Mick Mulvaney’s tenure, this edition emphasizes that “it is important to keep in mind that institutions are subject only to the requirements of relevant laws and regulations,” and that the purpose of disseminating Supervisory Highlights is to “help institutions better understand” how the Bureau examines them for compliance—statements that signal a shift in how the Bureau approaches its supervisory role.
Continue Reading First Supervisory Highlights Under Director Kraninger Reflects Focus on Corrective Action and Prevention of Harm

On May 8, 2018, the House of Representatives used the Congressional Review Act (“CRA”) to vote to repeal the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB’s) March 2013 bulletin addressing indirect auto lending and compliance with the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (“ECOA”). That vote follows the Senate’s April 18 CRA vote to repeal the bulletin. President Trump…

Despite changes in leadership at numerous federal agencies, Washington D.C. continues to focus on lending to servicemembers. In December, Congress extended the time period for protections against foreclosure under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. Otherwise, those protections would have expired at the end of 2017.

In addition, the Department of Defense recently amended its Military…

It appears that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) controversial indirect auto initiative may be over.  Before the holidays, the CFPB issued a blog post setting forth its fair lending priorities for 2017.  It identified those priorities as Redlining, Mortgage and Student Loan Servicing, and Small Business Lending.  Not only was indirect auto lending not listed, but the CFPB appeared to go out of its way to indicate it was moving away from this issue.  
Continue Reading Is the CFPB’s Indirect Auto Initiative Over?

New regulations under the federal Military Lending Act (“MLA”) that become effective next week will prohibit consumer loans to covered US Service members if those loans have a “military annual percentage rate” (“MAPR”) greater than 36 percent. The Defense Department’s regulations will impose that MAPR limit on additional types of consumer credit transactions (beyond just…

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) marks its fifth birthday having made a substantial mark on the consumer financial services marketplace. To mark this event, we have compiled a retrospective of the CFPB’s first five years. The retrospective provides an overview of the CFPB’s actions in the realms of rulemaking, supervision, and enforcement. While it …

It has been a busy June for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in the auto lending space. On June 9, the CFPB released a “Know Before You Owe” shopping sheet for auto loans. On June 27, the CFPB published a report entitled “Consumer Voices on Automobile Financing” (the “Auto Financing Report”). This report contains information on consumers’ challenges in obtaining and understanding auto financing based on focus groups with consumers and narrative consumer complaints. On June 28, the CFPB released its monthly complaint snapshot highlighting consumers’ complaints on auto lending. In the midst of this, the CFPB also published a series of blog posts directed at consumers on how to shop for auto loans.

Although the majority of the CFPB’s documents and articles are focused on consumers, direct and indirect auto lenders can learn from the CFPB’s guidance. Before you drive away for the long weekend, here are some key highlights from the CFPB’s recent slew of auto financing information:
Continue Reading Auto Lenders Take Note: Key Takeaways from the CFPB’s Recent Auto Financing Publications

*Mrs. Schoenfeld is not admitted in the District of Columbia. She is practicing under the supervision of firm principals

On April 29, 2016, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB” or “Bureau”) issued its fourth Fair Lending Report, which reviews the activities of the Office of Fair Lending and Equal Opportunity for the 2015 calendar year.  Last year, the CFPB’s fair lending supervisory and public enforcement actions led to $108 million in restitution to consumers and other monetary payments.  The Bureau referred eight matters to the Department of Justice (“DOJ”), and DOJ declined to independently investigate two of these matters.

The Report focuses on the following fair lending highlights:
Continue Reading The CFPB Issues its 2015 Fair Lending Report