The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said it wants to improve customer service at big banks and credit unions by launching an initiative that it said would help customers “assert their rights to better customer service.”
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, consumer protection issues have risen as a key priority for federal banking regulators. And they’ve taken recent steps signaling a growing emphasis on addressing discrimination and abusive or deceptive practices.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has fined Bank of America $10 million for processing what the agency said were illegal, out-of-state garnishment orders against its customers’ bank accounts.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau plans to expand anti-discrimination efforts beyond fair lending laws and look at other lending practices as that could be considered abusive or deceptive.
Momentum is building at the federal level to reevaluate and modernize how bank mergers are evaluated by federal banking regulators. Competition and market power have emerged as key concerns.
Citing concerns about biases in automated home appraisal models, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau could create rules to ensure that computer models determining home valuations are accurate and fair.
Citing billions of dollars that households spend annually on “exploitative junk fees,” the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau launched an initiative Wednesday to reduce the fees charged by banks, credit unions and other financial companies.
The controversy over proposals to review bank merger regulations continues to play out publicly, with the FDIC’s Trump-apointed chair at odds with a group of board members aligned with the Biden administration.
Some mortgage lenders have violated fair housing laws by discriminating against African Americans and women when granting pricing exceptions, according to a report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
A request seeking public comments about bank mergers that one government agency said had been approved by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has come under dispute after the FDIC said the request had not been approved.
Banks earned an estimated $15 billion from overdraft fees in 2019, and smaller institutions brought in almost as much income per account as large banks, according to research from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Citing studies that have found racial disparities in mortgage lending, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said it plans to review recent changes to the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) rules and has requested public input on those rules.
In an effort to help renters build credit vital to buying a home, Freddie Mac has launched an initiative that will encourage operators of multifamily properties to report on-time rental payments to credit bureaus.
Companies that provide background screening services for rental properties could be subject to greater scrutiny as federal agencies take actions to eliminate a name-matching practice that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said has undermined the housing market recovery.
The bureau has a new director who is likely to embrace an aggressive “watchdog” role, similar to how the agency operated under former President Barack Obama.
If your closing was postponed recently, cybercriminals may be to blame.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has proposed new small business lending rules that the agency said would help small businesses gain access to credit and increase transparency in the lending marketplace.
Some of the largest mortgage servicers in the U.S. had varying responses to borrowers’ inquiries during the pandemic, with some servicers struggling to help homeowners, according to a report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Whether mortgage lenders should have counted Juneteenth this year as a business day or a federal holiday depends on when the relevant compliance period began for each borrower, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said last week.
Biden’s nominations for top roles at the CFPB and FHFA reflects President Joe Biden’s continuing effort to appoint diverse financial regulators with an eye toward firmer regulation and a commitment to economic equity and increased access.
