The Mortgage Bankers Association and Housing Policy Council (the “Associations”) recently filed an Amici Curiae brief supporting the position of Townstone Financial regarding the scope of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act...more
Townstone Mortgage (Townstone) has filed its brief in the CFPB’s appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit from the district court’s decision in the CFPB’s enforcement action against Townstone. In the...more
8/23/2023
/ American Bar Association (ABA) ,
Chevron Deference ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA) ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
ECOA ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Mortgage Lenders ,
Mortgages ,
Popular ,
Regulation B
The CFPB has released the Summer 2023 edition of Supervisory Highlights. The report discusses the Bureau’s examinations in the areas of auto origination and servicing, consumer reporting, debt collection, deposits, mortgage...more
7/31/2023
/ Bank Deposits ,
Borrowers ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA) ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Reporting Agencies ,
Consumer Reports ,
Debt Collection ,
ECOA ,
Fair Lending ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Lenders ,
Military Lending Act ,
Mortgages ,
Regulation B ,
Regulation X ,
Regulation Z ,
Supervisory Highlights ,
UDAAP
The CFPB recently issued its annual fair lending report covering its fair lending activity in 2022....more
The CFPB has filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in a private lawsuit brought by a group of eight Black and Hispanic plaintiffs who alleged that the named defendants, which included a...more
The FTC has filed an amicus brief in support of the CFPB’s appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit from the district court’s decision in the CFPB’s enforcement action against Townstone Mortgage...more
The CFPB has filed its opening brief in its appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit from the district court’s decision in the CFPB’s enforcement action against Townstone Mortgage (Townstone). In the case,...more
6/21/2023
/ Chevron Deference ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Discriminatory Lending Practices ,
ECOA ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Mortgage Lenders ,
Mortgages ,
Race Discrimination ,
Redlining
The CFPB has filed a Statement of Interest in a case pending before a Florida federal district court in which the plaintiffs allege that the defendant engaged in discriminatory targeting in violation of the Equal Credit...more
The CFPB has filed a Notice of Appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit from the district court’s decision in the CFPB’s enforcement action against Townstone Mortgage (Townstone). In the case, the...more
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) have filed a Statement of Interest regarding the application of the Fair Housing Act (FHA) and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) to a...more
The CFPB and other federal agencies with the responsibility to enforce the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) and/or Fair Housing Act (FHAct), recently sent a joint letter to The Appraisal Foundation (TAF) expressing...more
As previously reported, in July 2020 the CFPB filed the first ever redlining complaint against a nonbank mortgage company, Townstone Mortgage (Townstone), under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) and Consumer Financial...more
The Justice Department announced that it has entered into an agreement with Lakeland Bank to settle the DOJ’s claims that Lakeland engaged in unlawful redlining in the Newark, New Jersey metropolitan area. The DOJ’s lawsuit...more
10/4/2022
/ Community Reinvestment Act ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Discriminatory Lending Practices ,
ECOA ,
Fair Housing Act (FHA) ,
Fair Lending ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Mortgages ,
Race Discrimination ,
Redlining ,
Settlement Agreements
The CFPB’s Fair Lending Director, together with senior officials from other federal agencies, have sent a letter to The Appraisal Foundation (TAF) commenting on proposed changes to the Uniform Standards of Professional...more
Yesterday, eight federal agencies joined together to issue an “Interagency Statement on Special Purpose Credit Programs Under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act and Regulation B” (Interagency Statement). The agencies consist...more
During May 2021, the federal Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) issued a report (GAO-21-393) containing findings from its review of issues related to the CFPB’s oversight and enforcement of the Equal Credit Opportunity...more
On July 15, 2020, the CPFB filed a complaint in federal court against Townestone Financial, Inc. (Townestone) representing the first ever redlining complaint against a non-bank mortgage lender. ...more
7/21/2020
/ Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA) ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Disparate Impact ,
ECOA ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Equal Access to Credit ,
Fair Housing Act (FHA) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
HUD ,
Mortgages ,
Non-Bank Lenders ,
Redlining
As previously reported, at the end of April 2020, the CFPB issued two factsheets regarding the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) and Regulation B provisions that require creditors to provide the applicant with a copy of any...more
The CFPB recently issued two factsheets regarding the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) and Regulation B provisions that require creditors to provide the applicant with a copy of any written appraisal or other valuation...more
On April 29, 2020, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced an interpretive rule addressing the waiting periods under the Regulation Z right to rescind provisions and the TRID rule in view of COVID-19, and...more
On April 14, 2020, the federal banking agencies announced an interim final rule that will allow for appraisals and evaluations of homes and other real property to be obtained up to 120 days after closing. ...more
HUD’s proposed revisions to its disparate impact rule were published in today’s Federal Register. Comments on the proposal are due on or before October 18, 2019. ...more
8/19/2019
/ Affordable Housing ,
Burden-Shifting ,
Comment Period ,
Disparate Impact ,
ECOA ,
Fair Housing Act (FHA) ,
Federal Register ,
Housing Discrimination ,
Housing Market ,
HUD ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Race Discrimination ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Texas Dept of Housing v Inclusive Communities
The Department of Housing and Urban Development is expected to soon release proposed revisions to its 2013 rule under which HUD or a private plaintiff can establish liability under the Fair Housing Act (FHA) for...more
8/5/2019
/ Affordable Housing ,
Burden-Shifting ,
Congressional Review Act ,
Disparate Impact ,
ECOA ,
Fair Housing Act (FHA) ,
HUD ,
Race Discrimination ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Texas Dept of Housing v Inclusive Communities
In a blog post entitled “How S.2155 (the Bank Lobbyist Act) Facilitates Discriminatory Lending” Professor Adam Levitin claimed that “This bill functionally exempts 85% of US banks and credit unions from fair lending laws in...more
3/19/2018
/ Banking Sector ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Discriminatory Lending Practices ,
ECOA ,
Fair Housing Act (FHA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
HELOC ,
HMDA ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Mortgages ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Race Discrimination
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) recently commenced a redlining lawsuit against KleinBank, a state-chartered Minnesota bank subject to the regulatory authority of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). The...more
1/31/2017
/ Banking Sector ,
Community Reinvestment Act ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Discriminatory Lending Practices ,
ECOA ,
Fair Housing Act (FHA) ,
HMDA ,
Mortgage Lenders ,
Mortgages ,
Race Discrimination ,
Redlining