A federal official Tuesday afternoon told a group of New York-based third-party origination professionals angered by new proposed compensation and pricing restrictions that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau would listen to their concerns and could still possibly change the proposals in line with them.
“These are not final rules,” Ann Thompson, who works in the Office of Nonbank Supervision at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, stressed in response to concerns from attendees at the New York Association of Mortgage Brokers' annual wholesale conference that the proposals could put their businesses at a disadvantage to others. “Your viewpoint is valuable. The bureau is not trying to create an asymmetric market.”
Marc Savitt, president at the National Association of Independent Housing Professionals and an industry veteran with a long history of involvement in regulatory advocacy work, told attendees he shared their concerns and that they should be part of discussions that could shape the rules.
“I have a problem, and I know a lot of you do as well, with the government coming in…and telling you how much I can make, or telling me how I can charge my customers when my competition doesn’t have to follow the same rules that I do,” Savitt said, noting that he was not singling out the CFPB in his comments, but referring more generally to regulation.
Thompson said the rules would apply to all entities the CFPB regulates but noted that some depositories have different regulators. Some of those depository regulators may have similar rules, she said.
Savitt said he hoped federal rulemakers would consider precedent, including some state regulation that has been time tested, in drawing up new proposals.
