Articles
NAFCU details concerns with CFPB’s debt collection proposal
Highlighting a number of “indirect effects” credit unions – which are not debt collectors as defined in the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) – will face as a result of the CFPB’s proposed rule related to third-party debt collection, NAFCU’s Kaley Schafer outlined regulatory improvements the bureau can make before finalizing the rule.
Chicago Brokerage to Pay $1.5 Million Fine for Lack of Cybersecurity
A Chicago-based futures brokerage will pay $1.5 million for letting cyber criminals breach the firm’s email systems and withdraw $1 million from a customer’s account. The order from The U.S. Commodities Futures Trading Commission also finds that Phillip Capital Inc. failed to disclose the cyber breach to its customers in a timely manner. The order alsi finds that PCI failed to supervise its employees with respect to cybersecurity policy and procedures, a written information systems security program and customer disbursements.
Trump administration asks Supreme Court to take up challenge to consumer bureau
The Trump administration and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) on Tuesday asked the Supreme Court to take up a lawsuit challenging the agency’s constitutionality. Top Justice Department and CFPB attorneys argued in a brief filed Tuesday that the structure of the powerful financial watchdog infringes on the president’s executive authority. The lawyers urged the Supreme Court to take up a case that could have potentially fatal implications for the CFPB, halting or weakening its efforts to police the financial sector.
CFPB should remove DTI requirement, income verification rules for QM
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) should take special note of the challenges faced by credit unions and other smaller mortgage lenders in the absence of certain expansions of the Qualified Mortgage safe harbor, CUNA wrote to the CFPB Monday. The letter comes in response to a CFPB advance notice of proposed rulemaking on whether to propose revisions to the definition of a QM in light of the planned January 2021 expiration of a category of QM eligible for purchase by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the Temporary GSE QM, or the “GSE patch.”
New report explores the relationship between Financial Well-Being and the contents of and engagement with credit reports
Today the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau) released an Innovation Insight report which describes a first of its kind study exploring the relationship between subjective financial well-being and objective credit report characteristics and consumers’ engagement with financial information through educational tools. “Credit Characteristics, Credit Engagement Tools, and Financial Well-Being” presents the findings of a joint research study between the Bureau and Credit Karma, a personal finance technology company providing free credit scores and reports and credit-related educational tools. This report is the first to study the relationship between financial well-being and engagement with financial information based on a survey of consumers matched with actual data on engagement.
Average FICO score stands at record high
The average FICO score stands at 706, a record high, said Ethan Dornhelm, vice president of scores and predictive analytics at FICO. That compares with 686 at the 2009 end of the Great Recession and it eclipses the 690 at the 2006 height of the housing bubble. The key drivers are U.S. economic expansion that has propelled job growth and an increase in consumer education about protecting and improving scores, Dornhelm said in a blog post. In addition, the passage of time is helping to remove the credit scars from events that happened during the financial crisis, he said.
Banks Scrapping Regulators For Friendlier OCC Oversight
An increased number of banks are swapping their own regulators for oversight by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday (Sept. 17). U.S. financial institutions can choose either state or federal oversight, although it is more common for banks to switch from federal supervision to more-accessible state regulators. The OCC serves as the national bank regulator. No state banks converted to OCC oversight from 2014 to 2016, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
California passes new rules that cap payday loan interest at 36%
More than 23 million people relied on at least one payday loan last year. On Friday, Sep. 13, California passed legislation that would make these loans less expensive for residents. The California State Legislature passed the Fair Access to Credit Act, which blocks lenders from charging more than 36% on loans of $2,500 to $10,000. Previously, there was no interest rate cap on loans over $2,500, and the state’s Department of Business Oversight found over half of these loans carried annual percentage rates of 100% or more.
Start-ups to grab $280 billion in banking payments revenues by 2025, study says
LONDON (Reuters) – Banks are set to miss out on as much as $280 billion in revenue from their payments operations by 2025, as new start-ups muscle in and more of the business of sending money to individuals and companies becomes instant and free, according to a new report.
Wall Street banks are upping bets on their potential fintech competitors
The biggest banks on Wall Street are increasingly betting on their potential competition. So far this year, major U.S. banks have participated in two dozen financial technology, or fintech, equity deals, according to a recent report by CB Insights. This is tracking to be on par with last year — which saw a 180% increase in bank investments from a year earlier.