April 2013 Articles – CFPB Journal

CARD Act rule will make it easier for stay-at-home adults to get credit

An update to the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act, or CARD Act, will make it easier for stay-at-home moms or dads to get a credit card.

CFPB says payday loans and bank deposit advances are same product

Banks offering deposit advances or considering it, take note. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau sees deposit advances as functionally equivalent to payday loans.

Exam priorities carefully determined, CFPB official says

Steven L. Antonakes, Acting Deputy Director at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, spoke to a group of bankers on Thursday, April 18 in Des Moines, Iowa. In his 45-minute presentation, he explained how the bureau decides which institutions to examine.

A third official makes a private venture out of stint at CFPB

Raj Date, the former deputy director for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau who resigned from the CFPB earlier this year, has opened an advisory firm for banks focusing on consumer finance, according the American Banker.

CFPB’s Office of Older Americans to get new leader

Hubert H. Humphrey III, who was named Assistant Director for Older Americans at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Oct. 9, 2011, has taken on a new post at the bureau; he is now Senior Liaison Officer.

Tool helps compare college expenses

On April 11, the CFPB unveiled an online tool to help people shop for college. The tool, located at the CFPB web site, allows a person to list expenses for three colleges, side by side.

CFPB releases mortgage compliance guide for small banks

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau published a compliance guide to aid small banks and mortgage lenders in understanding and complying with the bureau’s Ability-to-Repay and Qualified Mortgage Rule, which goes into effect January, 2014

CFPB penalizes mortgage companies for reinsurance kickbacks

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced on April 4 four enforcement actions to end what the CFPB said it believes to be “improper kickbacks paid by mortgage insurers to mortgage lenders in exchange for business.”

Cordray encourages use of CFPB’s expanded complaint database

Speaking at a field hearing in Des Moines, Iowa, CFPB Director Richard Cordray invited citizens from all ranks of society to use the data contained in its recently-expanded complaint data base.

Financial institutions resolved vast majority of complaints submitted to the CFPB

Banks, credit card companies, mortgage companies and credit reporting agencies resolved all but 2 percent of the complaints sent to them by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in 2012, according to the bureau’s semi-annual report to Congress and the President released March 29.