On April 25, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina entered a consent order and approved a settlement resolving the DOJ’s complaint charging Four Oaks Bank with unlawfully allowing third party merchants to work through the bank to defraud consumers. Four Oaks’ clients included a Texas-based third-party payment processor that provided access to the national payment system to a wide variety of merchants. Four Oaks was specifically informed that many of […]
Month: May 2014
CFPB DIVERSITY ISSUES – LESSONS LEARNED
Recently it has been revealed that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has a disparate treatment problem. CFPB managers have rated white staff members distinctly better than minority staff members in staff reviews that are used, in addition to other purposes, for determining raises and bonuses. The evidence against the CFPB appears solid. The manner in which the CFPB has responded to this embarrassing mess holds lessons for any bank subject to charges of disparate […]
CFPB PRIVACY PROPOSAL PROMOTES MORE EFFECTIVE DISCLOSURES: GOOD NEWS
On May 6, 2014, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) proposed a rule that would amend Regulation P, Privacy of Consumer Financial Information. The proposed rule would promote more effective privacy disclosures from financial institutions to their customers, while also providing some good news for banks. Currently financial institutions send annual privacy notices to their customers that describe if and how consumer’s nonpublic personal information will be shared. If the institution shares information with an […]
IMPLEMENTING THE NEW INTEGRATED DISCLOSURES – Part II
As explained in the first part of this article implementing the new integrated disclosures is a massive task. Lenders that have a plan and get an early start on the process will complete the task by the August 1, 2015 deadline with minimal stress to all involved. We advocate a three-step process for implementing the New disclosures. Master the Material – Mastering 1,888 pages of regulation and related material doesn’t happen quickly. Most of us […]
IMPLEMENTING THE NEW INTEGRATED DISCLOSURES – Part I
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) published final rules to implement the new integrated disclosures on November 20, 2013. The rules complete the Dodd-Frank mandate to combine the disclosures required by the Truth-in-Lending (TILA) and Real Estate Settlement Procedure Acts (RESPA). The regulations, the Official Interpretations and instructions for completing the forms are massive, covering 1,888 pages. Have you begun the implementation process yet? You have until August 1, 2015 to complete the task, […]