Law and legal issues

A judge who imposed a $45 million penalty on Bank of America Corp. over a foreclosure on a California couple still isn't ready to forget the case he described as a "Kafkaesque nightmare."

Regulators usually avoid the public fights that define other realms of the polarized Washington landscape, but the recent tiff over the arbitration rule is an exception.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency used "flawed statistics" and misstated the effects of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's arbitration rule on community banks, Director Richard Cordray said Friday.

Bank of America set aside $100 million in its reserves for representation and warranty claims ahead of a pending settlement to resolve legacy mortgage issues.

In an op-ed, acting Comptroller of the Currency Keith Noreika argued that allowing consumers to sue financial institutions in class actions would raise credit costs and harm small banks.

A bankruptcy judge who spent 107 pages excoriating Bank of America Corp. over its "heartless" foreclosure on a California couple is not happy that the homeowners want him to erase his words.

The bank plans to contact all customers who paid fees for rate lock extensions during a three-and-a-half-year period and to refund any who believe they should not have been charged.

The groups argue that the CFPB did not properly conduct a cost-benefit analysis of the rule banning mandatory arbitration agreements and that the final product will harm, not help, consumers.

Democrats have strived to paint recent scandals at Wells Fargo and Equifax as prime examples of why a regulatory rule banning mandatory arbitration agreements should be upheld, but Republicans are not wavering in their campaign to overturn it.

The hearings before the Senate Banking Committee have high stakes for both companies, as lawmakers are expected to ask the CEOs whether they should be fired.

In order to compensate victims of the breach, Equifax is offering free credit monitoring services that include a mandatory arbitration clause, a measure Democrats were highlighting to lobby support for the CFPB's rule banning such clauses.

In a deregulatory environment, a rule that better enables consumers to bring class actions could lead to an explosion of litigation, which will affect product availability and pricing.

The Legal Aid Society of Palm Beach County, Fla., and two homeless assistance agencies are the surprise beneficiaries of a successful lawsuit against a notorious South Florida foreclosure attorney, who was later disbarred.

Kidder Matthews, the top commercial real estate firm on the West Coast, is being sued by a former employee who alleges its brokers engaged in a scheme to defraud property owners and that higher ups knew about it and did nothing.

Wells Fargo forced borrowers to pay millions of dollars in fees to extend interest rate locks that expired due to the bank's delays in processing mortgage applications, a lawsuit claims.

Payday lenders and arbitration supporters are claiming the CFPB has met more often with consumer groups than industry, laying the groundwork for likely lawsuits on key rules.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., sent a letter to 16 big banks asking them if they support a GOP effort to overturn the CFPB arbitration rule.

The financial services industry is at risk of being caught flat-footed if a legislative measure to rescind the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s rule regulating arbitration agreements fails to pass.

Staff for House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling said CFPB Director Richard Cordray is continuing to ignore subpoenas tied to the agency's work on the arbitration rule.

Democrats on the House and Senate banking committees are urging Republicans to hold hearings with Wells Fargo's top executives over its phony-accounts and force-placed insurance scandals.