Regulatory relief

In the past, the agency cited the legal term in enforcement actions without stating what it meant, but Director Kathy Kraninger has sought to give the industry clearer guidance.

In another sign of state officials trying to outdo the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, governors in California and New York want greater authority to license and oversee the debt collection industry.

Todd Zywicki, a law professor who has sharply criticized the CFPB as an unaccountable bureaucracy, has been named chair of an agency task force identifying potential conflicts and inconsistencies in consumer finance law.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has proposed an overhaul of an Obama-era rule meant to guide local jurisdictions in how they comply with the Fair Housing Act.

Despite assurances by Director Kathy Kraninger that the agency is cracking down on discrimination, it has not filed an enforcement action or sent a Department of Justice referral on a fair-lending violation in two years.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency has proposed a plan that would exempt the Federal Home Loan Banks from conducting stress tests.

The agency’s director previewed a policy for companies under enforcement action to have their orders terminated if they comply ahead of schedule.

The agency’s director previewed a policy for companies under enforcement action to have their orders terminated if they comply ahead of schedule.

Lenders contend the proposal goes beyond policing third-party debt collectors and could expose banks to enforcement actions and lawsuits.

The agency will review the TRID regulation, which combined disclosure requirements of two separate laws, as part of a mandate to evaluate major policies five years after their effective date.

The 2015 decision posed new legal challenges for institutions trying to sell loans to third parties, but the federal regulatory agency proposed steps Monday for banks and debt parties to evade state interest rate caps.

The financial policy views of progressive candidates atop the presidential field are sure to worry bankers, but it would be difficult for any new president to implement sweeping regulatory changes.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s exemption from the Qualified Mortgage rule is on borrowed time, but a House bill would allow lenders to use the mortgage giants’ guidelines for documenting borrower income.

CFPB Director Kathy Kraninger announced the creation of a task force to research and identify potential conflicts in consumer finance law.

Institutions that offer fewer than 500 open-end lines of credit will get another two-year exemption from reporting requirements under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act.

The industry had welcomed the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau plan allowing debt collectors to use electronic communication, but some worry about the effect of a court decision concerning email correspondence.

The three federal banking agencies moved to raise the threshold for residential transactions that require an appraisal from $250,000 to $400,000.

The bureau issued three policies removing the threat of legal liability for approved companies that test new products.

The regulators have yet to complete rules on regional bank supervision, community bank capital and other provisions meant to ease institutions' burden.

President Trump has signed the Protecting Affordable Mortgages for Veterans Act, which aims to address concerns that rules around certain VA refinances were impeding those loans' inclusion in secondary market pools.