In March 2017, the CFPB issued a special edition of its Supervisory Highlights addressing consumer reporting from the perspective of consumer reporting companies (“CRCs”) (commonly referred to as credit bureaus or consumer reporting agencies) and furnishers. This follows the CFPB’s February 2017 Monthly Complaint Report, which focused on complaints related to credit reporting. These publications, along with recent statements by Director Robert Cordray, suggest that the CFPB will be placing additional supervisory focus on credit reporting for both CRCs and furnishers of consumer information. Continue Reading Time for Some Spring (Credit Reporting) Cleaning
Supervision
CFPB Addresses Non-QMs Under Ability-To-Repay Rule
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”), in its most recent set of Supervisory Highlights, provides a bit of insight into how it interprets its Ability to Repay Rule for loans that are not Qualified Mortgages (“QMs”). However, it fails to reconcile the Rule’s contradiction that while a lender making a non-QM is not required to consider or verify the borrower’s income if it reasonably finds the borrower’s assets to be sufficient, it is nonetheless required to consider and verify a borrower’s income! Make sense?
By way of background, the Dodd-Frank Act and CFPB’s regulations generally require lenders making a closed-end residential mortgage loan to reasonably determine that the consumer will be able to repay the loan according to its terms. If the lender wants to take advantage of a safe harbor of compliance with that requirement, it may choose to make a QM in accordance with the Rule’s strict criteria for those loans. However, a lender may decide to make non-QMs, for which the Rule offers more underwriting flexibility. Still, the lender must consider eight specified factors, and verify the amounts of income or assets on which it relies using reasonably reliable third-party records. Continue Reading CFPB Addresses Non-QMs Under Ability-To-Repay Rule
Papers Please: CFPB Advances Plans to Register Nonbank Financial Services Providers
If you think the shadow of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) is hiding behind a tree, you may well be right. On July 7th, the CFPB posted a Request for Information (“RFI”) on the federal government contracts website, called FedBizOpps.gov, in which it “pre-solicited” vendor capabilities to develop an automated technology solution for nonbank financial institutions to register with the CFPB. It noted that such a potential registration system “might also be used to collect financial and operational data as well as organizational structure data.” In other words, in the name of supervision, the CFPB might condition your future ability to offer goods and services on your advance registration and satisfaction of ongoing reporting requirements. Continue Reading Papers Please: CFPB Advances Plans to Register Nonbank Financial Services Providers