Consumer Protection

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen provided testimony to the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs regarding the Financial Stability Oversight Committee (FSOC). She spoke about cryptocurrency, Russian sanctions, access to healthcare, the post-pandemic economy and cybersecurity.

Republicans on the committee were critical of what they considered the FSOC’s pursuit of a political agenda instead of focusing on “real risks” to the economy.

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The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has issued its annual report on the bureau’s fair lending activities for 2021. The report highlights enforcement actions, amicus briefs, rulemaking procedures, and outreach and engagement activities.

The CFPB has also issued an advisory opinion on the scope and timeframe in which fair lending laws apply.

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Acting Comptroller of the Currency Michael Hsu stated that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has joined the Department of Justice (DOJ) and other financial regulators in plans to change bank merger rules.

The DOJ’s Antitrust Division, along with the Federal Trade Commission, began soliciting public comment on the topic earlier this year.

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The Fifth Circuit heard appeals from the trade groups challenging a 2017 CFPB rule on payday and high-rate installment loans. The trade groups are arguing the CFPB did not have the authority to enact the rule.

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Since 1977, the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) has ensured that banks continue to meet the needs of the communities they are meant to serve by promoting lending in lower-income areas. With only one major update in the mid-1990s, the banking regulators have introduced a proposal to update the CRA to better reflect the changes in the banking and lending industries in the past 30 years.

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The Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, Subcommittee on Financial Institutions held hearings to discuss and garner testimony from expert witnesses on overdraft and nonsufficient funds fees.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau previously announced its intentions to address what it perceived as harmful “junk fees.”

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Acting Comptroller of the Currency Michael Hsu addressed the topic of advancing fair access to quality and sustainable credit at the Black Homeownership Collaborative’s fair housing month forum.

Hsu discussed different programs and initiatives, as well as proposed regulatory changes, that will help increase access to credit and homeownership.

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The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has released its report of consumer complaints received by the agency during 2021. During that time, the CFPB received approximately 994,000 complaints, of which nearly 32,000 complaints related to the mortgage industry.

Of those 32,000, less than one percent related to reverse mortgage services while 65 percent were regarding conventional home mortgages.

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An enforcement action brought by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau against 1st Alliance Lending and three individuals within the company has survived efforts by the defendants to get the case dismissed.

The case revolves around whether certain sales employees were required to maintain mortgage originator licenses in every state in which 1^st Alliance Lending operated.

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Attorneys general from 21 states and Washington, D.C., are calling on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to stop servicers from charging consumers convenience fees for using convenient payment methods to pay bills.

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