The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) expressed in a February 4, 2022, blog post its concern that some appraisers may not be aware of the non-discriminatory laws affecting the appraisal industry. Further, the CFPB opined that The Appraisal Foundation (TAF), a non-governmental entity that sets appraisal standards, has not sufficiently addressed discriminatory prohibitions in its [...]
This week, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) said it plans to review recent changes to the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) rules and has requested public input on those rules. The CFPB said in a statement Tuesday that it would evaluate the effectiveness of recent rule changes as a way to strengthen the agency’s [...]
The U.S. Department of Justice is launching a nationwide Combatting Redlining Initiative to combat discriminatory lending practices, Attorney General Merrick Garland said on Friday. Garland said the illegal practice of "redlining," or avoiding lending to minority neighborhoods, remained a persistent problem, and the federal government was devoted more resources to identifying it and punishing lenders. [...]
The Justice Department has announced a settlement with Houston-based Cadence Bank to resolve allegations that the bank engaged in lending discrimination by ‘redlining’ predominantly Black and Hispanic neighborhoods in the Houston area. The Department alleged that the bank engaged in redlining between 2013 and 2017 by avoiding providing loans and other home mortgage services in majority-Black [...]
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recently charged a California business for allegedly targeting Hispanic homeowners with illegal and discriminatory mortgage modification services. HUD said that The House Lawyer, based in Redwood City, California, collected fees from Hispanic borrowers for loan modification services prior to completing the services, a violation of California law, while [...]
On March 31, 2021, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) rescinded seven recent policy statements and one bulletin in an effort to ensure compliance with consumer protection laws and reinforce its supervisory and enforcement authority. These rescissions went into effect April 1, 2021. The policy statements were designed to provide flexibility to financial institutions that faced [...]
On March 9, 2021, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) issued an Interpretive Rule that the prohibitions against sex discrimination in the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) and Regulation B encompass sexual orientation discrimination and gender identity discrimination. When published, the rule will have immediate effect. The new interpretive rule follows a landmark Supreme Court [...]
On February 4th, State financial regulators cited Buffalo-based Hunt Mortgage Corp. (Hunt) for weakness in lending to minorities and minority neighborhoods, as they released a report finding an overall lack of lending by nonbank mortgage companies in Buffalo, despite laws banning the practice of redlining. Hunt is a subsidiary of Hunt Real Estate Corp., the [...]
On January 21, 2021, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), along with federal financial institution regulators, issued responses to frequently asked questions on suspicious activity reports (SARs) and other anti-money laundering (AML) requirements. The stated goal of this release is to clarify regulatory requirements and assist financial institutions with compliance obligations, particularly SAR filing, while [...]
Washington Federal Bank, N.A., already under a 2013 consent order addressing violations of Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) reporting requirements, must pay a $200,000 civil money penalty and beef up its compliance management related to later violations under a consent order announced October 27th by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). In the new consent [...]
