Top Story Lending Related

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau published in this morning's Federal Register a notice and request for comment proposing a new information collection, "Debt Collection Quantitative Disclosure Testing." Comments are due by December 14, 2017. The survey will explore consumer comprehension and decision making in response to debt collection disclosure forms. The survey will oversample respondents who have had experience with debt collection in the past.

The FFIEC has updated two fields in the 2017 Census Data: the FFIEC Estimated MSA/MD non-MSA/MD Median Family Income and Estimated Tract Median Family Income. As a result, these data fields have been updated in the 2017 Census Data Products and Geocoding System.

The State of Oklahoma has filed an amicus curiae brief with the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas, in support of the defendants in Consumer Financial Protection Bureau vs. Golden Valley Lending, Inc., at al, according to a report in Ballard Spahr, LLP's Consumer Finance Monitor. The Bureau's complaint against four online tribal lenders was filed in April in the Northern District of Illinois and subsequently transferred to the Kansas District. The suit claims that the lenders engaged in unfair, deceptive and abusive acts or practices in violation of the Consumer Financial Protection Act by attempting to collect loans that were void or uncollectible under state law due to interest rates exceeding state usury limits. The suit also alleges that the lenders failed to disclose the APR in advertisements and in response to telephone inquiries, in violation of the Truth in Lending Act.

Oklahoma's brief supports the lenders' claims that they are immune from suit under the CFPA and TILA as "arms of the tribe," that the Bureau can't enforce state law, and the loans are subject to tribal, rather than state, laws.

The CFPB has published in the Federal Register for Monday, November 13, 2017 (no Federal Register was published today), a notice that the Bureau is updating its list of companies that offer existing credit card customers free access to a credit score, and a request for responses from the industry to be used in publishing the updated list. Comments on the notice are due by January 12, 2018.

The Bureau also published a companion notice and request for information encouraging comments from the public to inform the Bureau on the experience consumers are having with access to free credit scores and the experience of companies, and nonprofits, offering their customers and the general public free access to their credit scores. Comments are due by February 12, 2018.

Yesterday, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated ten current or former Venezuelan government officials pursuant to Executive Order 13692. These individuals are associated with undermining electoral processes, media censorship, or corruption in government-administered food programs in Venezuela. For details on the designated individuals, see our OFAC Update.

OFAC also announced its publication of two new Venezuela-related FAQs. The first pertains to the treatment of Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PdVSA) subsidiaries under Executive Order 13808 ("Imposing Additional Sanctions With Respect to the Situation in Venezuela"). The second deals with U.S. person participation in meetings about restructuring outstanding Venezuelan and PdVSA debt that existed prior to the effective date of Executive Order 13808.

The CFPB announced yesterday it has filed a complaint in federal court against Freedom Debt Relief, the nation’s largest debt-settlement services provider, and its co-CEO Andrew Housser, for deceiving consumers. The CFPB alleges that Freedom charges consumers without settling their debts as promised, makes customers negotiate their own settlements, misleads them about its fees and the reach of its services, and fails to inform them of their rights to funds they deposited with the company.

Update, 7/9/2019: The CFPB announced 7/9/2019 that it had settled its suit against Freedom Debt Relief. See our Top Story.

The OCC has issued Bulletin 2017-51 as guidance to provide transparency regarding its framework for evaluating certain types of licensing applications when an applicant bank has an overall Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) rating of “Needs to Improve” or “Substantial Noncompliance” or a less than satisfactory CRA rating in one or more geographic rating areas.

The CFPB has published in the November 9, 2018, Federal Register three final rules increasing various threshold amounts in its regulations, applicable for calendar year 2018.

• The threshold amount at or below which a special appraisal is not required for a higher-priced mortgage loan under § 1026.35(c) of Regulation Z will increase to $26,000.
• The threshold amount for exempt consumer leases under Regulation M will increase to $55,800.
• The threshold amount for exempt consumer credit under Regulation Z that is neither secured by real property or personal property used or expected to be used as a consumer's principal dwelling nor a private education loan will also increase to $55,800.

The changes to the Official Interpretations of Regulations M and Z have been posted to BankersOnline's Regulations pages.

The Federal Reserve has posted G.19 Consumer Credit data for September. Consumer credit increased at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5-1/2 percent during the third quarter. Both revolving and nonrevolving credit increased at similar annual rates. In September, consumer credit increased at an annual rate of 6-3/4 percent.

The October 2017 Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey (SCOOS) on Bank Lending Practices has been released by the Federal Reserve. The survey addresses changes in the standards and terms on, and demand for, bank loans to businesses and households over the past three months. Responses were received from 72 domestic banks and 23 U.S. branches and agencies of foreign banks.