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Life on the road often brings surprises, last week more so than usual. On Wednesday evening I was travelling from a seminar in Tulsa to Oklahoma City. It was a race to see who or what would arrive first – our car or the storm. The car finished first That evening the Oklahoma City area was hit be more than a dozen tornadoes. I tried to keep up with the breaking weather news as I sat

Last month the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released its 2014 Consumer Response Annual Report. Last year the CFPB received approximately 250,700 consumer complaints. The most significant categories of complaints were debt collection (35%), mortgage (20%), and credit reporting (18%). In the mortgage category the CFPB reported that it received approximately 51,200 complaints in 2014. The most common type of mortgage complaint (49% of total) involves problems consumers face when they are unable to make

On April 15 the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) approved an interpretative rule on Homeownership Counseling.  The rule addresses: How to provide mortgage applicants with a list of local homeownership counseling organizations; Restates guidance the CFPB issued in 2013, and provides further guidance for lenders who are building their own lists of housing counselors; and The qualifications for providing high-cost mortgage counseling and for lender participation in such counseling. Key points of clarification include: In

Effective August 1, 2015 the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has changed its position regarding providing Truth in Lending disclosures in transactions that involve trusts. The revisions clarify that the benefits of the regulation extend to any consumer involved in a transaction that in substance extends consumer credit, regardless of whether that consumer is the direct mortgage obligor or a beneficiary of a trust to which such credit has been extended. Regulation Z does not

On March 31 the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) published a new toolkit, titled Your Home Loan Toolkit – A Step-by-Step Guide, that guides consumers through the process of shopping for a mortgage and buying a house. The toolkit is designed to help consumers take advantage of the new Loan Estimate and Closing Disclosure forms that lenders are required to begin providing in August. The toolkit provides a step-by-step guide to help consumers understand the