Source: https://www.respanews.com/RN/ArticlesRN.aspx?issueid=934be0b5-ef3f-481f-8942-4e7d874ebbbb
Timestamp: 2019-04-20 12:48:35+00:00

Document:
From the start of Thursday’s oral arguments, D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals justices Thomas Griffith, Patricia Millett and Judith Rogers put Leandra English’s counsel on the defensive.
The latest round in the dispute over leadership at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was held in Washington, with active participation from the judges driving discussion on Article III standing, on the meaning of ‘shall’ and on the status of for-cause protection for the acting director of the bureau.
Read on for details from arguments and reaction from counsel for both sides.
Are two hats fatal for Mulvaney’s FVRA appointment?
The ability of Mick Mulvaney to hold two hats at once in the executive branch has been at times a source of humor, with Mulvaney joking about his workload, and Rep. Michael Capuano (D-Mass.) joking about Mulvaney’s interest in adding a third role as Speaker of the House upon news that Paul Ryan was not running for re-election.
Yet in oral arguments before the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, the joint jobs Mulvaney has as director of the Office of Management and Budget and the acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are at the heart of what the three-judge panel may rule in English v. Trump.
Read on for more from the oral arguments.
For the first time since the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a director besides Richard Cordray appeared before the House Financial Services Committee to fulfill the statutory requirement of reporting on the bureau’s semi-annual report to Congress.
Not everyone was so happy to see him, though. “Mr. Chairman, let me say at the outset that Mr. Mulvaney is not the acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau,” Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), ranking member of the committee, said in her opening remarks.
Read on for more from Mulvaney’s first trip to the Hill to represent the bureau.
As attorneys for Leandra English and the federal government went to court three days before Christmas to conduct arguments concerning a preliminary injunction, the initial debate shifted from a month earlier, when the two sides discussed the chaos of the first days of transition in leadership at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
D.C. District Judge Timothy Kelly began the Dec. 22 arguments with a discussion between the two sides of what the status quo at the CFPB was, as it relates to the case. Kelly asked whether there were developments the sides wanted to make him aware of, and English lead counsel Deepak Gupta brought up the status quo.
Read on for more about the discussion, and how it sets up Thursday’s oral arguments before the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.
With oral arguments scheduled to be heard by three of the seven justices who upheld the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s constitutionality in the recent PHH Corp. v. CFPB ruling, bureau Deputy Director Leandra English’s final reply brief in her appeal sought to reference that ruling right away.
English’s case, English v. Trump, is scheduled for oral arguments before the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on April 12.
Read on for more on the brief, as well as details on the three justices scheduled to hear the appeal.
It’s a ruling which will certainly generate plenty of discussion, and potentially an appeal from a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau which has appeared less and less likely to pursue civil cases.
The decision by Judge Charles Simpson of the District Court in the Western District of Kentucky in Consumer Financial Protection Bureau v. Borders & Borders to deny the bureau’s motion for reconsideration is notable as much for its change in direction as for its final ruling.
Read on for more on the differences between his latest ruling and the initial decision, along with industry reaction.
In a recent motion to dismiss charges against Zillow Group, the company provided details of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s investigation into the company’s co-marketing program, as well as why Zillow believes its co-marketing does not violate RESPA.
The motion to dismiss comes as Zillow is being charged with false disclosures about its legal compliance efforts.
Read on for details Zillow disclosed in its motion to dismiss.
In a case involving the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s allegations against an Ohio-based debt collector, each side filed for summary judgment.
The judge ruled against both requests, determining that there were facts in dispute on each side of the case. The judge kept the case on schedule for a jury trial May 1.
Read on for more about the case, and how quickly it has progressed to a jury trial.
Do new amendments provide RESPA private cause of action?
An Illinois buyer who entered into a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure agreement with her servicer filed suit after the company refused to honor the agreement.
Among the allegations in her complaint were violations of RESPA for furnishing adverse information to consumer reporting agencies within 60 days of receiving a notice of error. The servicer claimed that there was not a private right of action for alleged violations of 12 C.F.R. § 1024.35, new mortgage servicing amendments promulgated by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in October 2016.
Did the district court in Illinois find a private right of action for those violations? Read on for more.
A buyer whose home fell into foreclosure filed suit against his loan servicer four years later, citing violations of RESPA.
The servicer moved to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and for failure to state a claim. The district court in Florida examined whether the buyer had standing to bring the lawsuit.
Read on for more from the Florida court’s decision.
Stratmor Group has launched its 2018 Technology Insight Survey, the only independent technology survey in the industry today that gives voice to mortgage executives experiences with their technology.
Is CFPB deputy director working?
The dispute over leadership at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has been going on for nearly five months since then-Director Richard Cordray’s resignation.
What hasn’t been in question since Nov. 24, 2017, is that Leandra English is employed as the deputy director.
Yet public statements and reports are bringing into question English’s role at the bureau since Cordray’s departure. Is she working? How has she not met acting director Mick Mulvaney? Read on for more.
A new report from Moody’s Analytics says the recent announcement by Bank of America that it will launch a digital mortgage platform is positive for the bank, in part because it helps narrow the gap between Bank of America and non-banks such as Quicken Loans, loanDepot.com and Guaranteed Rate Inc.
Read on for more insight from Moody’s on the future of digital marketing strategies among banks.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has issued a series of 12 requests for information on aspects of the bureau’s work and processes.
The first of the requests, involving the civil investigative demand process, is nearing the end of its comment period, with others shortly to follow.
Find out where we are in the time process and how to be sure to make your voice heard.
In conjunction with events surrounding the 50th anniversary of the Fair Housing Act, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) said it worked with the Department of Justice to announce a nationwide rollout of initiatives to increase awareness and reporting of sexual harassment in housing.
“All discrimination stains the very fabric of our nation, but HUD is especially focused on protecting the right of everyone to feel safe and secure in their homes, free from unwanted sexual harassment,” HUD Secretary Ben Carson said in a press release.
Read on for more details of the announcement and initiatives slated to roll out.
Marcos D. Sasso, an accomplished consumer financial services litigator with a national practice, has joined Ballard Spahr in the firm’s Los Angeles office, firm Chair Mark Stewart announced.
Superintendent Maria T. Vullo announced that the New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) fined Nationstar Mortgage LLC $5 million stemming from the company’s failure to develop effective, scalable controls that could keep pace with its rapid growth.
As a result of DFS examinations, Nationstar already has made restitution of $7 million to New York borrowers and will donate $5 million in residential real property or first-lien mortgages to one or more non-profit organizations to assist in the rehabilitation of vacant and abandoned properties.
Read on for details of the infractions found by DFS examiners.
The Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS) and the New York Department of Financial Services recently co-hosted a nationwide fintech forum to address fintech developments and business models, opportunities and risk, as well as state-based regulatory approaches to innovation.
CSBS Chairman Albert Forkner addressed the forum, announcing among other things that the conference had identified innovation contacts within all agencies who would be the primary point of contact with fintech companies.
Read on for more from Forkner’s address.
The 12th in a series of requests for information (RFI) issued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau deals with consumer complaints and inquiries.
The RFI is expected to be published in the Federal Register on April 16, with a 90-day comment period from there.
Read on for more details of the latest request for public comment.
At the heart of the debate over leadership succession at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau – a debate which is back in court Thursday for oral arguments before the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals – is the Federal Vacancies Reform Act (FVRA).
A new wrinkle involving the Veteran’s Affairs office could put the FVRA back in the forefront of the argument. An acting director has been appointed under FVRA, but there is dispute over whether the previous director was fired or resigned – and whether FVRA could apply if there was a firing.
Could a new discussion over the extent of the FVRA’s reach affect arguments Thursday? Read on for more.
As Mick Mulvaney prepares to appear before Congress for the first time in his role at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), a group of trade associations led by the Consumer Bankers Association wrote to co-sponsors of a House bill which would create a five-person, bipartisan commission to lead the CFPB.
Read on for more details from the report and the groups which back the bill.
Having gone through 10 requests for information (RFI) concerning Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) regulations, supervision, enforcement and processes, the latest RFI looks to the bureau’s mission of financial education.
The RFI is the 11th in a sequence issued by acting director Mick Mulvaney and the comment period for it ends July 9.
Read on for details of the latest RFI, and what the CFPB hopes to learn about its work on financial education to date.
More than 2,500 financial institutions now rely on QuestSoft, the nation’s leading provider of automated mortgage compliance software, to simplify the collection, analysis, submission and compliance of regulatory loan data.
ACA Compliance Group announced that it will acquire Cordium, a leading provider of governance, risk and compliance services. The transaction is expected to close this summer, subject to regulatory approvals. The financial terms of the transaction will not be disclosed.
Title insurance professionals who have been hoping for changes to the disclosure of simultaneously issued title insurance were left disappointed when the TRID Improvement Act of 2018 was not included in the final Senate financial regulatory reform bill sponsored by Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), which was passed last month.
However, the fight to get the TRID Improvement Act to the president’s desk is not yet over, and the title industry can provide great influence over the next steps in the process.
Read on for one agent’s story of helping the process, and what you can do to support the inclusion of the TRID Improvement Act in final legislation.
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network issued an updated set of frequently asked questions (FAQs) regarding customer due diligence requirements, stemming from rules amended in September 2017.
“A covered financial institution with notice of or a reasonable suspicion that a customer is evading or attempting to evade beneficial ownership or other customer due diligence requirements should consider whether it should not open an account, close an account, or file a suspicious activity report, regardless of any interpretations below,” an introduction to the FAQs said.
The 24-page document includes 37 questions. Read on for more information.
As Mick Mulvaney prepares for his first appearance before Congress since beginning work at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, he announced his intention to continue pushing for reforms at the bureau.
He did that first by citing four key legislative changes he believes Congress should make to the CFPB in the bureau’s semi-annual report to Congress. He followed that with a response letter to Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) in which he said the frustration the senator felt about the direction of the bureau was something Mulvaney himself experienced while he was a member of the House.
Read on for more from the acting director.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s request for information (RFI) on guidance and implementation support appears to be its most wide-ranging of the first 10 released.
The RFI, published in the Federal Register on April 2, covers guidance materials and activities, reaching from regulatory inquiries to compliance aids, interpretations, webinars and more.
Read on for more details from the guidance RFI.
Following the recent finalization of mortgage servicing amendments, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced that it has updated its Small Entity Compliance Guide to reflect the changes.
These amendments to the servicing rules replace the single-billing-cycle exemption for periodic statements and coupon books with a single-statement exemption when servicers transition to providing modified or unmodified periodic statements and coupon books to consumers entering or exiting bankruptcy.
Read on for more from the bureau’s announcement.
Fifty years after the signing of the Fair Housing Act, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has declared April as Fair Housing Month and will remember the anniversary with a signing April 11 in Washington.
HUD Secretary Ben Carson said the Fair Housing Act remains a centerpiece of the work HUD is doing to ensure fair, inclusive housing, free from discrimination for all Americans.
Read on for more about the anniversary.
The latest request for information from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau opens up public comment on inherited regulations – including the RESPA statute.
The inherited regulations considered by the bureau comprise the statutory authority and regulations that were transferred by Title X of the Dodd-Frank Act.
Read on for details about the request.
A buyer whose house eventually was demolished by the city sued his servicer, alleging RESPA violations for not compliantly responding to qualified written requests (QWRs).
In looking at the buyer’s amended complaint, the Alabama district court determined that the two letters written did meet the QWR standard and examined whether the service compliantly replied.
Read on for details of how the court ruled.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) used its Section 5(a) authority to halt the activities of four individuals it charged with deceptive acts for allegedly promoting a pyramid scheme to make money with cryptocurrencies.
“A screenshot from a promotional video illustrates the organization structure, which resembled a pyramid,” the complaint stated.
Read on for more about the schemes which the FTC went after.
In the first joint report issued since Mick Mulvaney began work at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the CFPB and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued their annual report to Congress on debt collection practices at the agencies.
The report detailed 84,500 debt collection complaints handled by the CFPB in 2017, while the FTC distributed 13.8 million print publications to business and agencies around the country.
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee released a Majority Staff Report examining federal agencies’ regulatory guidance documents and their compliance with rulemaking, notably the Congressional Review Act.
The committee sought information from 46 federal agencies on guidance documents over the past 10 years, and in a three-month timespan, 38 agencies produced more than 13,000 guidance documents issued since Jan. 1, 2008.
It found various shortcomings with compliance with CRA and notification to the Office of Management and Budget. Read on for details and recommendations from the Republicans on the committee.
The Government Accountability Office recently issued a report examining presidential administrations’ compliance with the Congressional Review Act (CRA) during their times of transition.
The report examined economically significant and significant final regulations issued during the transition times of Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama. It found that agencies published more final regulations and more frequently provided advanced notice to the public on those regulations compared to nontransition periods.
Read on for details of the report, and GAO recommendations to improve CRA compliance in transition and nontransition periods.
Yale Law School Professor Nicholas R. Parrillo recently spoke to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee in a hearing about federal regulatory guidance.
In prepared remarks, Parrillo said guidance was an important means for increasing transparency. He said guidance was the easiest way for agencies to inform the public, but pressure on regulated entities to comply with guidance could lead to de facto regulatory action outside of the formal rulemaking structure.
Read on for Parrillo’s examination of the benefits and drawbacks of the current regulatory guidance process.
Florida homeowners filed suit against their servicer after making requests for information that were unanswered for nearly three months.
The servicer filed a motion to dismiss, saying the homeowners did not meet RESPA’s requirements for a qualified written request (QWR), and that the homeowners did not adequately plead actual damages.
The Florida district court ruled that the homeowners did not meet the requirements for a QWR which triggered the servicer’s obligations to respond under RESPA, but found the homeowners did plead actual damages and denied the motion to dismiss. How did the court come to the conclusion? Read on for more.
A Georgia buyer who secured a refinance of her property in 2002 filed her sixth lawsuit in a series of lawsuits aimed at preventing foreclosure of the property.
The latest lawsuit included allegations of RESPA violations against her servicer for failure to comply with qualified written requests.
The servicer alleged the buyer failed to prove actual damages. Read on to see why the court found she sufficiently pled actual damages.
Version 2.5 of the HECM Calculation Software includes the new Initial Mortgage Insurance Premium (IMIP) formula for HECM refinance cases.
Read on for more about the latest updates.
As strides in electronic mortgage transactions have grown in the past two years, the idea that companies are finding a need to store more paper documents seems counterintuitive.
And yet that’s just what one document provider is reporting.
More than two years after the implementation of the TRID rule, Docutech says the company is producing more paper than it ever has to help clients remain compliant in mortgage transactions.
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Ben Carson came under scrutiny at an appearance before the House Appropriations Committee’s Transportation, Housing and Urban Development subcommittee over spending controls at HUD.
Speaking about HUD’s fiscal 2019 budget, his hearing March 20 in front of the subcommittee began with questions about public accounts of the agency spending $31,000 on a new dining room table – a move which since has been canceled, but also called into question public pronouncements of who approved what and when.
Buyers in Pennsylvania who fell behind on taxes and paid them were entered into an escrow account with their servicer without notification to fund future tax payments.
When the servicing of their loan was transferred, the new servicer also required a tax escrow, but demanded a much higher monthly payment. When the buyers were notified, they sent qualified written requests which were unanswered. The buyers sued for RESPA violations, among other complaints.
The court determined the buyers met the standards for qualified written requests, and that the servicer failed to comply. Could they sufficiently plead statutory or actual damages?
Did condo refinance cover residential or commercial use?
A homebuyer in Missouri bought a condo in Chicago and lived there for four years before moving and renting the condo out over the next six years.
Over that time he obtained a refinance loan, from which property taxes were supposed to be paid from an escrow account. Four years later, the buyer discovered the taxes had not been paid and he sued the servicer for RESPA violations among other complaints.
Because the refinance was conducted after the buyer had moved, the district court in Missouri had to determine whether the property had residential or commercial use. Read on for the court’s ruling.
Three industry associations recently challenged President Donald Trump’s executive order requiring two regulations to be repealed for every one new regulation promulgated.
The associations sued the government and the case was heard in the D.C. District Court, with the court first deciding whether the associations had Article III standing to bring the case.
The court concludes that the associations failed to meet their burden of plausibly alleging or proffering facts that, if accepted as true, would establish that they have standing to sue, and granted the government’s motion to dismiss the case. Read on for details of how the court got to its conclusion.
In a recent October Research, LLC webinar, compliance experts Brian Levy and Loretta Salzano walked attendees through highlights of compliance lessons from the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals’ en banc ruling in PHH Corp. v. CFPB.
The pair discussed the implications for interpretation of Section 8(c)(2), the constitutionality of the bureau and what the prevailing interpretation means for structuring RESPA compliant partnerships.
Read on for details from the webinar.
In what appears to be the final word on the matter, a district court in California has ruled against post-trial motions by Nationwide Biweekly Administration, challenging the civil penalty and injunction levied against it in a case brought by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
The decision means the company will be enjoined from certain practices in how it uses competitive advertising and be forced to pay $7.93 million.
The district judge swiftly set aside Nationwide’s motions under Rules 59 and 60 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Read on for details of the decision.
A couple who defaulted on their mortgage payments had their property foreclosed upon in 2015. However, two years later, the foreclosure sale still had not been conducted by their lender.
The couple filed suit against the lender, their servicer and two predecessors in interest, alleging the lender denied loan modification applications and obtained force-placed insurance without telling the couple.
Read on to find out whether the couple was able to sufficiently plead RESPA violations.
The week the Senate approved its financial regulatory reform bill, the House passed three bills which could become part of House-Senate conference committee talks on regulatory reform.
The bills provide regulatory relief through tailored examinations and improving the timeliness of feedback. Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling said he was eager to begin talks with the Senate on a combined financial reform package.
Read on for more details of the House bills passed.

References: v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 § 1024
 v.