Archive

CFPB TARGETS DEBT COLLECTOR CONVENIENCE FEES

On June 29, the CFPB issued an advisory opinion affirming that federal law prohibits debt collectors from charging “pay-to-pay” fees. These charges, commonly described by debt collectors as “convenience fees,” are imposed on consumers who want to make a payment in a particular way, such as online or by phone. The advisory opinion is based on language in Section 808 of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), which prohibits debt collectors from collecting any […]

SMALL BUSINESS LENDING RULE DELAYED

On June 27, 2022, the Office of Management and Budget published the Spring 2022 Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions. The Agenda breaks down rules from over 60 federal departments, agencies, and commissions. In the list of actions from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is an announcement that the final rule for Small Business Lending Data Collection Under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act is not expected until March 2023. The rule will […]

CFPB CHANGING APPROACH TO REGULATIONS

In a June 17, 2022 blog post, Rohit Chopra, Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), declared, “Markets work best when rules are simple, easy to understand, and easy to enforce.” The CFPB is seeking to move away from highly complicated rules that have long been a staple of consumer financial regulation and towards simpler and clearer rules. In addition, the CFPB is dramatically increasing the amount of guidance it is providing to the […]

2021 HMDA DATA

On June 16, the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) announced the availability of data on 2021 mortgage lending transactions reported under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) by 4,338 U.S. financial institutions. Covered institutions include banks, savings associations, credit unions, and mortgage companies. The Snapshot National Loan-Level Dataset (Snapshot) released today contains the national HMDA datasets as of May 1, 2022. Key observations from the Snapshot include the following: For 2021, the number of reporting institutions […]

CFPB Circular – Adverse Action Based on Credit Models

On May 26, 2022, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) confirmed that federal anti-discrimination law requires companies to explain to applicants the specific reasons for denying an application for credit or taking other adverse actions, even if the creditor is relying on credit models using complex algorithms. The CFPB published a Consumer Financial Protection Circular  (Circular 2022-3) to remind the public, including those responsible for enforcing federal consumer financial protection law, of creditors’ adverse action notice […]