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The Federal Reserve has released the September 2015 G.17 industrial production and capacity utilization report. Industrial production edged up 0.1 percent in September after falling 0.5 percent in August. For the third quarter as a whole, industrial production rose at an annual rate of 1.8 percent for its first quarterly increase since the third quarter of 2015. Manufacturing output increased 0.2 percent in September and moved up at an annual rate of 0.9 percent in the third quarter. In September, the index for utilities declined 1.0 percent; mining posted a gain of 0.4 percent, which partially reversed its August decline. At 104.2 percent of its 2012 average, total industrial production in September was 1.0 percent lower than its year-earlier level. Capacity utilization for the industrial sector edged up 0.1 percentage point in September to 75.4 percent, a rate that is 4.6 percentage points below its long-run (1972–2015) average.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has announced that Moses S. Hall, a disbarred California attorney, was recently arrested on federal charges of running a mortgage modification scheme that defrauded more than 75 distressed homeowners in Orange County by inducing them to pay more than $1.4 million for services he never provided. A federal grand jury indictment alleges Hall told distressed homeowners to stop making their mortgage payments, and instead direct their monthly mortgage payments to him, purportedly so he could use that money to negotiate with the banks. Instead, as detailed in the indictment, Hall used the victims’ money for himself. The charges stem from a probe by ICE, IRS Criminal Investigation Division, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and the U.S. Secret Service.

In a presentation at the "The Elusive 'Great' Recovery: Causes and Implications for Future Business Cycle Dynamics" 60th annual economic conference sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, Federal Reserve Board Chair Janet L. Yellen reflected on some ways in which the events of the past few years have revealed limits in economists' understanding of the economy. A video recording of the presentation is available.

The OCC has released a list of Community Reinvestment Act performance evaluations that became public during September. The possible ratings are outstanding, satisfactory, needs to improve, and substantial noncompliance. Of the 26 evaluations listed, ten carried outstanding ratings and 16 are rated satisfactory.

HUD has announced the awarding of a total of $500 million to help Louisiana, Texas and West Virginia to recover after severe flooding events that occurred earlier this year. The funds are provided through the agency’s Community Development Block Grant – Disaster Recovery (CDG-DR) Program.

The NCUA has announced it will host “Loan Underwriting: Back to the Basics!! – Looking Beyond the FICO Score,” a free 90-minute webinar, on November 9, 2016, beginning at 2 p.m. EST.

The CFPB has posted updated versions of two "Know Before You Owe" (TRID Rule) compliance guides. October 7, 2016, versions of the Small entity compliance guide and the Guide to loan estimate and closing disclosure forms are now available on the Bureau's TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure rule implementation page.

FDIC FIL-64-2016, issued October 11, announces steps intended to provide regulatory relief to financial institutions and to facilitate recovery in areas of North Carolina affected by Hurricane Matthew.

HUD has announced it will speed federal disaster assistance to the States of North Carolina, Florida, and Georgia and provide support to homeowners and low-income renters forced from their homes due to Hurricane Matthew.

The CFPB has issued a consent order to the Navy Federal Credit Union, which is the largest credit union in the country, with over $73 billion in assets as of last year-end, ordering the credit union to make redress payments totaling $23 million to consumers and pay a $5.5 civil money penalty for unfair and deceptive debt collection acts and practices. The Bureau investigation found that Navy Federal Credit Union deceived consumers to get them to pay delinquent accounts. The credit union falsely threatened severe actions when, in fact, it seldom took such actions or did not have authorization to take them. The credit union also cut off members’ electronic access to their accounts and bank cards if they did not pay overdue loans. The Bureau said that the credit union falsely threatened legal action and wage garnishment and to contact commanding officers about a consumer's debt, misrepresented the consequences of being delinquent on a loan, and illegally froze members' access to their accounts.

For details on the Bureau's action, see "Navy FCU pays $5.5MM CMP for debt collection practices," in our Penalties pages.