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The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is requesting public input on chattel loan pilot initiatives for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the proposed Evaluation Guidance under the final rule on Duty to Serve Underserved Markets.

The CFPB published in the January 18 Federal Register its November 28, 2016, Compliance Bulletin 2016-03, "Detecting and Preventing Consumer Harm from Production Incentives." The bulletin compiles guidance that has previously been given by the CFPB in other contexts and highlights examples from the CFPB's supervisory and enforcement experience in which incentives contributed to substantial consumer harm. It also describes compliance management steps supervised entities should take to mitigate risks posed by incentives.

• 82 FR 55412

OFAC has designated Milorad Dodik, President of Republika Srpska, one of two entities that make up Bosnia and Herzegovina. Specifically, Dodik was designated for his role in defying the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina in violation of the rule of law, thereby actively obstructing the Dayton Accords; he was also designated for conduct that poses a significant risk of actively obstructing the same. See our OFAC Update for additional information.

The CFPB has announced an update of its student loan Payback Playbook prototype.

The OCC will host two workshops in Miami, Florida, on February 7-8, for directors of national community banks and federal savings associations supervised by the OCC. The Risk Governance workshop will be offered on February 7 and the Compliance Risk workshop on February 8.

OFAC has announced it has taken action in response to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) - United Nations (UN) Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM) findings that the Syrian regime used industrial chlorine as a weapon against its own people. OFAC is designating 18 senior regime officials connected to Syria’s weapons of mass destruction program and identifying five Syrian military branches as part of the Government of Syria. Any property or interest in property of the identified persons in the possession or control of U.S. persons or within the United States must be blocked. Additionally, transactions by U.S. persons involving these persons are generally prohibited. See our OFAC Update for more information.

The Federal Trade Commission has announced that Damian Kutzner, one of the operators of a mortgage relief scheme that bilked millions of dollars from financially distressed homeowners, has agreed to a court order banning him from the debt relief business. The court order resolves the Federal Trade Commission's complaint and the contempt charges against Kutzner. It also bans him from providing certain financial products and services, and from making misrepresentations about any products or services. In addition, the order imposes a judgment of more than $18.3 million, representing the amount of consumer harm.

The OCC has released the 2017 schedule of workshops for directors of national community banks and federal savings associations. The agency will offer five workshops at a cost of $99 each:

• Building Blocks for Directors
• Risk Governance
• Compliance Risk
• Credit Risk
• Operational Risk

Each workshop is limited to 35 participants.

In an early morning news release coordinated with its Debt Collection forum today in Washington, the CFPB released two documents and a copy of remarks to be delivered at the forum by Bureau Director Cordray. Consumer Experiences with Debt Collection, "provides an in-depth analysis of consumers’ encounters with the debt collection industry," according to the press release. It reports that over 40 percent of consumers who said they were approached about a debt in collection requested that a creditor or collector stop contacting them. Of these consumers, three in four report that debt collectors did not honor their request to cease contact.

The second document, Market Snapshot: Online Debt Sales, was described as "a study of potential risks in the online debt marketplace, where consumer debts and personal information are for sale for fractions of pennies on the dollar."

The Bureau also announced the start of a series of personal debt collection stories from consumers as part of an ongoing effort to highlight issues in the debt collection marketplace and inform consumers of their rights.

OFAC has designated seven individuals and identified as blocked two entities of the North Korean regime in response to the regime’s ongoing and serious human rights abuses and censorship activities. Treasury is taking this action in conjunction with the State Department’s “Report on Serious Human Rights Abuses or Censorship in North Korea,” which is being submitted in accordance with the North Korea Sanctions and Policy Enhancement Act of 2016. As a result of these actions, any property or interest in property of those designated by OFAC within U.S. jurisdiction is frozen. Additionally, transactions by U.S. persons involving the designated persons are generally prohibited. The identifications of two entities as blocked were issued pursuant to E.O. 13722, which, among others, blocks the property and interests in property of the Government of North Korea and the Workers’ Party of Korea, including those two entities. See our OFAC Update for additional information.