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The CFPB has announced a final rule modifying Regulation B to provide additional flexibility for mortgage lenders in the collection of consumer ethnicity and race information. The changes will provide greater clarity for mortgage lenders regarding their obligations under the law, while promoting compliance with rules intended to ensure consumers are treated fairly. Separately, the CFPB also seeks comment on proposed policy guidance describing the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data the Bureau proposes to make available to the public beginning in 2019, including modifications to protect consumers’ privacy.

The Regulation B amendments will be effective January 1, 2018, except for the removal of the existing "Uniform Residential Loan Application" (URLA) from Appendix B will be effective January 1, 2022. Comments on the proposed policy guidance will be accepted for 60 days following publication in the Federal Register.

UPDATES: The proposed policy guidance was published at 82 FR 44586 on September 25, 2017. Comments will be accepted through November 24, 2017. The Regulation B amendments will be published on October 2, 2017.

HUD and the Census Bureau have jointly announced statistics on new residential construction for August 2017:

• Building permits: Privately owned housing units authorized by building permits in August were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,300,000. This is 5.7 percent above the revised July rate of 1,230,000 and 8.3 percent above the August 2016 rate of 1,200,000. Single-family authorizations in August were at a rate of 800,000, 1.5 percent below the revised July figure of 812,000. Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 464,000 in August.
• Housing Starts: Privately owned housing starts in August were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,180,000. This is 0.8 percent below the revised July estimate of 1,190,000 and 1.4 percent above the August 2016 rate of 1,164,000. Single-family housing starts in August were at a rate of 851,000, which is 1.6 percent above the revised July figure of 838,000. The August rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 323,000.
• Housing Completions: Privately owned housing completions in August were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,075,000. This is 10.2 percent below the revised July estimate of 1,197,000 but is 3.4 percent above the August 2016 rate of 1,040,000. Single-family housing completions in August were at a rate of 724,000, 13.3 percent below the revised July rate of 835,000. The August rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 348,000.

The CFPB filed a complaint in federal court and issued a proposed consent order yesterday against Top Notch Funding and two individuals associated with the company for lying in loan offerings to consumers who were awaiting payment from settlements in legal cases or from victim-compensation funds. These consumers included former National Football League players suffering from neurological disorders, victims of the Deepwater Horizon oil-rig disaster, and 9/11 first responders. In the complaint and proposed consent order, the CFPB is seeking to prevent Top Notch, its owner Rory Donadio, and his business associate John "Gene" Cavalli from offering or providing such products in the future, and to require them to pay $70,000 in civil money penalties to the CFPB's Civil Penalty Fund. The proposed penalties take into account the defendants' inability to pay more.

• CFPB press release

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has announced disaster assistance for storm victims in the U.S. Virgin Islands and the State of Georgia.

The FDIC has issued FIL-43-2017 with an update of previous information to reflect a major disaster declaration in Georgia. The FDIC encourages depository institutions to consider all reasonable and prudent steps to assist customers in communities affected by recent storms. The FDIC recognizes that efforts to work with borrowers in the affected communities can be consistent with safe-and-sound banking practices and in the public interest.

The Bureau has posted three Blog articles regarding updates on the Equifax data breach, the top ten ways to protect oneself following the breach, and what servicemembers should do to secure their identity.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced Monday it has taken action against the National Collegiate Student Loan Trusts and their debt collector, Transworld Systems, Inc., for illegal student loan debt collection lawsuits. The Bureau said consumers were sued for private student loan debt that the companies couldn’t prove was owed or was too old to sue over. These lawsuits relied on the filing of false or misleading legal documents. The proposed judgment requires an independent audit of all 800,000 student loans in the National Collegiate Student Loan Trusts’ portfolio. It prohibits the National Collegiate Student Loan Trusts, and any company they hire, from attempting to collect, reporting negative credit information, or filing lawsuits on any loan the audit shows is unverified or invalid. In addition, it requires the National Collegiate Student Loan Trusts to pay at least $19.1 million, which includes initial redress to harmed consumers, relinquished funds to the Treasury, and a civil money penalty. Under a separate consent order, Transworld Systems, Inc. is ordered to pay a $2.5 million civil money penalty.

• Complaint against National Collegiate Student Loan Trusts
• Proposed final judgment against National Collegiate Student Loan Trusts
• Consent order against Transworld Systems, Inc.

The OCC released on Friday new enforcement actions taken against national banks, federal savings associations, and individuals currently and formerly affiliated with national banks and federal savings associations. A civil money penalty was issued against a former Georgia bank director. A civil money penalty of $183,920 was issued against a Cincinnati, Ohio, bank for violations of flood insurance requirements. Also included was a personal cease and desist order issued to the president of mortgage banking of an Arkansas bank, whom the OCC found to have participated in the origination and sale on the secondary market of residential mortgage loans to family members of an executive officer based on false income and employment information, and to have participated in the origination of his own residential mortgage loans with the bank.

The CFPB has issued a no-action letter to Upstart Network, Inc., a company that uses alternative data in making credit and pricing decisions. As a condition of the no-action letter, Upstart will regularly report lending and compliance information to the CFPB to mitigate risk to consumers and aid the Bureau’s understanding of the real-world impact of alternative data on lending decision-making. The agency also posted an article on the no-action letter on the Bureau Blog.

• Press release

The NCUA has announced that federally insured credit unions saw continued improvement in nearly every measurement category during the second quarter of 2017, according to the NCUA Quarterly U.S. Map Review. Nationally, median loan growth in federally insured credit unions was 4.4 percent during the year ending June 30. Median asset growth was 3.9 percent; the median rate of growth in deposits and shares was 4.1 percent; and the median loans-to-shares ratio was 63 percent.