Top Story Lending Related

The Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) has announced it has voted to rescind its determination that material financial distress at GE Capital Global Holdings, LLC (GE Capital) could pose a threat to U.S. financial stability and that GE Capital should be subject to supervision by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and enhanced prudential standards. The Council unanimously determined that GE Capital no longer meets the standards for a determination, with one member recused.

The CFPB has released its monthly complaint snapshot, this month highlighting complaints about consumer loans, including vehicle loans and leases, installment loans, title loans, and pawn loans. The report shows that consumers continue to complain about issues managing their loans and problems they encounter when they are unable to pay them off. This month’s report also highlights trends seen in complaints coming from Arkansas.

The Bureau also posted an article, “Consumer Voices on Auto Financing,” discussing the challenges faced by consumers in understanding auto loans. The article is the fourth post in the CFPB blog series on auto loans.

The FDIC has issued FIL-41-2016 as guidance to help financial institutions and to facilitate recovery in areas of West Virginia affected by severe storms, flooding, landslides, and mudslides.

The FDIC has announced the launch of a survey of banks on their small business lending practices. The web-based survey of roughly 2,000 randomly selected FDIC-insured banks will begin in late June and will be administered by the U.S. Census Bureau on behalf of the FDIC. The Small Business Lending Survey (SBLS) will collect data that provide additional insight into many aspects of small business lending, including nationally representative information on the general characteristics of banks' small business borrowers, the types of credit offered to small businesses, and the relative importance of commercial lending for banks of different sizes and business models. Institutions chosen to participate in the SBLS will be contacted by letter at the end of June with directions on how to proceed.

HUD has announced awards totaling $8 million to 10 severely distressed neighborhoods to stimulate affordable housing and economic development. Funded through HUD’s Choice Neighborhoods Initiative, the awards will help local leaders craft comprehensive, homegrown plans to revitalize and transform neighborhoods.

In a presentation at the Credit Union National Association's annual America's Credit Union Conference, Chairman Metsger encouraged qualified credit unions to seek certification as Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs). “Credit unions are uniquely positioned to advance the goals of the Community Development Financial Institutions Program,” Metsger said, “and I encourage every qualified credit union to make CDFI certification a priority in the next few months. Increasing the number of credit unions with this certification will allow significant dollars to be put to work helping people of modest means meet their financial needs. This is the core of the credit union mission.”

The Federal Reserve has released the G.20 finance companies report on owned and managed receivables outstanding and auto loans: terms of credit for April 2016.

HUD and the Department of Justice (DOJ) have awarded $8.7 million to address homelessness and reduce recidivism among this justice-involved population through the Pay for Success model. For many individuals convicted of minor crimes, finding jobs and decent housing is so challenging that many are at extreme risk of homelessness or reentering the criminal justice system.

The FDIC has released a list of enforcement actions taken during May 2016. The list comprises 15 orders, including one consent order, two removal and prohibition orders, three section 19 orders, two civil money penalties and seven terminations of earlier enforcement actions. Of the civil penalty orders, one for $100,000 was issued, together with a removal and prohibition order, to a former institution-affiliated party of a Utah bank for engaging or participating in "violations of law, unsafe or unsound banking practices, and/or breaches of fiduciary duty as an institution-affiliated party" of the bank. The other civil penalty order, for $40,000, was issued to TSB Bank, Lomira, Wisconsin, for alleged violations of 31 C.F.R. § 1010.306(a)(1) -- the requirement to file CTRs within 15 days of the reportable transactions. An institution-affiliated party of another Utah bank received an order of prohibition from further participation in the affairs of any financial institution upon the FDIC's determination that he violated the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act and Regulation X by agreeing to pay fees for the referral of mortgage loan business.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has announced the release of its first quarter 2016 foreclosure prevention report which indicates Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac completed 49,573 foreclosure prevention actions in the first quarter of 2016, bringing the total number of foreclosure prevention actions to nearly 3.7 million since the start of the conservatorships in September 2008. These measures have helped more than 3.0 million borrowers stay in their homes, including nearly 1.9 million who received permanent loan modifications.