News By Edition

In one of the final cases of the October 2021 term, the Supreme Court announced it is prepared to limit the authority of agencies to interpret their own authorizing statutes.

West Virginia, et al. v. EPA saw the high court move away from decades-old precedent in favor of an approach that limits the flexibility of agencies to adapt old statutes to modern problems.

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Under the leadership of Director Rohit Chopra, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has continued making efforts to aid consumers with limited English proficiency (LEP).

Recently, the CFPB engaged with stakeholders to identify common issues LEP and immigrant consumers face when accessing financial services.

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The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and All American Check Cashing have agreed to a settlement conference stemming from 2016 enforcement action.

This came after multiple arguments from All American that the structure of the CFPB should be deemed unconstitutional failed to sway the Fifth Circuit.

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A letter signed by ten Republican members of the House Financial Services Committee urged the Federal Housing Finance Agency director to engage in greater overside of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac activities.

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The U.S. Treasury Department issued a request for comment relating to President Joe Biden’s March 2022 executive order which called for a “whole-of-government” approach to developing and regulating digital assets.

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National mortgage funder loanDepot announced plans to lay off thousands of workers in hopes of returning to profitability by the end of 2022.

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The Federal Housing Finance Agency announced the establishment of the Office of Financial Technology which will serve as its central source for addressing the adoption and deployment of financial technology.

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After it was revealed that Wells Fargo managers were scheduling fake interviews with minority applicants to meet the company’s diversity initiatives, Wells Fargo is facing another potential class action lawsuit from investors.

House Democrats also are calling for further investigations into Wells Fargo’s alleged discrimination.

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The U.S. House Financial Services Committee held hearings to discuss the joint proposal to modernize the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) rules. The joint proposal by federal banking regulators seeks to “strengthen and modernize” CRA implementation.

Witnesses before the committee testified about the needs of communities most served by CRA regulations.

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Chris Mygatt, senior vice president and engagement leader at Coldwell Banker, shared some of his experiences from working in the real estate industry for nearly 40 years, kicked off day one of the 18th annual National Settlement Services Summit (NS3) in Orlando, Fla.

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The Consumer Price Index measure for inflation has hit a new 41-year high. This comes as the Federal Reserve prepares to decide on another interest rate increase that some are speculating may be as high as 100 basis points.

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Three major crypto firms have filed for bankruptcy in the past few weeks. Substantial investments in collapsed stablecoin TerraUSD seemed to play a significant role in their decline.

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The Federal Reserve Board of Governors, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, the National Credit Union Administration, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issued a joint statement reminding banks of the risk-based approach to assessing customer relationships and conducting customer due diligence.

The statement is meant to reiterate existing guidance and regulations.

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The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has issued an advisory opinion declaring the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and Regulation F prohibit debt collectors from charging customers “pay-to-pay” convenience fees for using particular methods to make payment.

This does not include such fees that are expressly authorized by the agreement or are affirmatively permitted by law.

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Industry groups are calling on the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to reconsider its decision to eliminate the Office of Supervisory Appeals (OSA) and the agency’s decision to reinstate the Supervision Appeals Review Committee (SARC).

The FDIC summarily closed the OSA and SARC without an opportunity for public notice and comment.

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The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a report to Congress warning about the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to combat online problems and urged policymakers to exercise “great caution” about relying on it as a policy solution.

The FTC expressed concern about inaccuracies, bias, discrimination and commercial surveillance creep that might result from use of AI.

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According to data from Redfin, rising and shifting mortgage rates are forcing buyers to cancel home purchases at the highest rate since 2020.

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Alternative mortgage lender Calque, with ALCOVA Mortgage, has launched its trade-in mortgage solution which allows homeowners to utilize equity in their home before it’s sold.

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In remarks delivered to a research conference hosted by the Federal Reserve Board, Fed Chair Jerome Powell discussed the international role of the U.S. dollar as well as the role a central bank digital currency might have in the future.

Powell also addressed the role of fintech in advancing the role of the U.S. dollar globally.

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The United States Chamber of Commerce sent a letter to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) director urging the bureau to undo amendments to its Supervision and Examination manual.

The chamber indicated it was prepared to take legal action if the CFPB did not heed its request.

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The United States Department of Treasury is working on measures to contain risk associated with unhosted crypto wallets and cryptocurrency exchanges. The Treasury is concerned about Bank Secrecy Act compliance issues derived from the anonymity of crypto technology.

Treasury Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo spoke on this topic at the 2022 Consensus Conference.

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In a recent blog post from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Director Rohit Chopra announced that the bureau is seeking to revisit and rethink some of the more complicated consumer finance rules in favor of simpler and clearer ones.

One specific rule the CFPB intends to reexamine is the Qualified Mortgage (QM) rule.

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New Research from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) examined the impact the aging and eventual death of the “baby boomer” generation may have on the housing market.

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Non-QM lender Sprout closed abruptly last week only months after averaging $380 million in loan volume per month.

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The Federal Trade Commission announced a lawsuit against Walmart for allegedly facilitating money transfer fraud through its money transfer service and partnerships.

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The House Financial Services Committee, Task Force on Financial Technologies held a hearing to discuss the lack of diversity equity and inclusion (DEI) within the fintech space.

Witnesses before the committee testified about how supporting DEI initiatives can help combat the ‘tech bro’ culture that exists in the industry.

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The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has issued a request for information (RFI) relating to “customer service obstacles” in banking.

At a public town hall meeting, CFPB Director Rohit Chopra announced the RFI as well as related concerns the bureau hopes to address and objectives it hopes to achieve.

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The American Law Institute made minor revisions to the second tentative draft of the Restatement of Law, Consumer Contracts.

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Less than one week after announcing the layoff of 75 percent of its workforce, First Guaranty Mortgage Corp. has filed for bankruptcy and is seeking Chapter 11 protections.

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The Securities and Exchange Commission has allegedly begun an investigation into Terraform Labs, the Singapore-based firm that created the stablecoin TerraUSD. The stablecoin was advertised as holding parity with the U.S. dollar prior to its collapse earlier this year.

Terraform also is facing a potential class action suit from investors over the billions of dollars lost when the stablecoin collapsed.

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In a keynote address to the Consumer Federation of America’s 2022 Consumer Assembly, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Deputy Director Zixta Martinez indicated the bureau is looking closely at “rent-a-bank” activities.

These activities involve lenders claiming partnership with banks as a means of subverting regulations placed on non-bank lenders.

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Mortgage interest rates saw the largest one-week increase in 35 years as they quickly approach 6 percent on 30-year fixed rates. This has led to a decline in mortgage applications and triggered layoffs and reassignments for mortgage workers at some of the nation’s largest lenders.

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A recent study by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. found that minority applicants often have higher costs in the mortgage market. The working paper asked the specific question “Did Minority Applicants Experience Worse Lending Outcomes in the Mortgage Market?”

It utilized information from the 2020 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act expanded data.

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Recent data from RE/Max found that closings in May 2022 were down from May of 2021 as inventory saw its second consecutive month of growth.

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The Department of Justice has continued its efforts to hold to account individuals and organizations that engaged in fraud relating to COVID-19 relief funds. This includes a man convicted of a $4.1 million fraud scheme, and a real estate developer who was indicted by grand jury in Oregon.

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The House of Representatives has passed H.R. 2543, The Financial Services Racial Equity, Inclusion, and Economic Justice Act. The bill tasks the Federal Reserve with assessing and finding ways to address socio-economic disparities between racial and ethnic groups.

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