CFPB doubles down on mortgage servicing enforcement

The fresh acting director of the Particular person Financial Safety Bureau, Dave Uejio, instructed team in an email on Thursday that the bureau will bid its consideration to mortgage servicers, promising “aggressive action” to affect sure companies phrase the legislation.

In the e-mail, Uejio laid out his imaginative and prescient for the arriving months, announcing that his top two prioities are relief for patrons facing hardship resulting from COVID-19 and the linked economic crisis and racial fairness.

“One ingredient we are capable of fabricate straight is level of interest our supervision and enforcement instruments on overseeing the companies to blame for COVID relief,” Uejio acknowledged within the e-mail. “I’m interested by the findings described in closing week’s Supervisory Highlights version that companies are failing to successfully administer relief thru the crisis.”

Here are one of the disorders the acting director highlighted on servicers:

• Mortgage servicers gave patrons incomplete and incorrect data about CARES Act forbearances, failed to process forbearance requests and level-headed and assessed late costs without reference to having well-liked forbearances.
• Servicers withdrew money even supposing patrons were in deferment.
• One student loan servicer denied thousands of forbearance extensions on yarn of the loan holder under no circumstances responded.
• Firms across markets misreported accounts to credit bureaus and violated CARES Act amendments that added protections to the Dazzling Credit Reporting Act.
• Some banks space off off stimulus payments and unemployment insurance advantages in represent to conceal bank costs and different debts.
• Examiners chanced on that the broadly oldschool protection of banks simplest taking PPP capabilities from pre-existing prospects would possibly well perchance per chance like a disproportionate detrimental affect on minority-owned agencies.

Uejio gave instructions to expedite enforcement investigations referring to to COVID-19 in represent to send a message to the business at huge.

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Uejio acknowledged all of this will doubtless be done alongside reversing changes made by the Trump administration that he says “weakened enforcement and supervision.”

“As of today, it is the official protection of the CFPB to supervise lenders with regards to the Militia Lending Act,” he wrote. “And we’re planning to rescind public statements conveying a level-headed methodology to enforcement of the approved pointers in our care.”

Uejio also promised to determine on “dauntless and swift action” to affect sure racial fairness, announcing the country is having a lengthy-previous due dialog on the topic.

“I’m going to raise and magnify existing investigations and exams and add fresh ones to affect sure now we like a wholesome docket intended to address racial fairness,” he acknowledged within the e-mail.

“This obviously ability that handsome lending enforcement is a top priority and shall be emphasized accordingly. Nonetheless we are capable of also scrutinize more broadly, previous handsome lending, to name and root out unlawful habits that disproportionately impacts communities of coloration and different susceptible populations.”

This serves as a stark difference to the remedy servicers bought beneath the Trump administration. In October 2020 on the Mortgage Bankers Affiliation Annual convention, Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mark Calabria took the opportunity to acknowledge the trouble servicers were making to aid debtors in forbearance and even thanked them. The message used to make sure: the mortgage business wasn’t within the sizzling seat for this recession.

Except now.

This would possibly well presumably be the essential step of many because the bureau looks to affect bigger its regulatory efforts. Under President Biden, the CFPB is poised to flip abet the clock and frail CFPB Director Richard Cordray believes the following four years would possibly well perchance well scrutinize so a lot bask in his time in place of work.

Uejio will attend as acting director until Biden’s nominee, Federal Commerce Commission Commissioner Rohit Chopra, is confirmed by the Senate because the following director of the CFPB. As soon as taking on, there would possibly well be a excessive expectation that Chopra will ramp up the bureau’s regulatory efforts, but Uejio isn’t losing any time.

“On COVID-19, now we must opt swift action now, in represent to make certain our actions help of us within the center of the crisis, as adversarial to honest cleaning up after the reality,” he acknowledged. “As you know, protecting economically susceptible patrons is core to the mission of the CFPB and a key purpose why the agency used to be created. It will opt urgent action for the CFPB to step up to this scenario.”