Links in “Agencies”
- The Early Bird Gets the FREE Worm
The NCUA is offering a free webinar to discuss business continuity planning and disaster recovery best practices to be held Wednesday, August 20, at 2 pm EST. Topics will include communication efforts, back-up recovery sites, restoration of IT services, and a return to normal operations. Questions may be submitted in advance, and the webinar will be archived with closed-captions several weeks following the event. [8/8/14]
- Waves of Recession Still Crashing on Some
The Federal Reserve Board's new "Report on Economic Well-Being of US Households" report reveals that financial recession is not over for many. The report indicates that 25% of surveyed households are "just getting by" and another 13% are struggling to get by. The report includes outlooks and projections for the housing market, perceptions of surveyed individuals, and insight into numerous topics. [8/8/14]
- CFPB’s Office Renovation Gets OIG’s Attention
The Office of Inspector General is making the controversial renovation of the CFPB's headquarters the subject of not one, but two investigations. [8/7/14]
- Big 10 Conference Goes 1-12 on CFPB’s Scoreboard
The CFPB looked at the public disclosure agreements of the financial partners of the 13 member schools of the Big Ten conference with financial partners. The bureau was satisfied with the publicly available contract of only one of the school-financial partner teams (go, Hawkeyes!). It is sending alerts to inform schools that "their bank partner has not yet committed to transparency when it comes to student financial products." It would seem unlikely that the CFPB will limit its attention to the Big Ten. [8/7/14]
- New Mortgage Rules Squeezing Credit? Fed Says No (But…)
A Federal Reserve survey of loan officers concludes that ability-to-repay and qualified mortgage rules that went into effect earlier this year are not having a significant impact on residential mortgage loans. However, a closer look at the numbers reveals that only 47% of respondents at smaller institutions say that approval ratings for residential mortgages are "about the same," compared to 78% of large bank respondents. [8/6/14]
- DOJ Targets Subprime Auto Lending
In collaboration with the CFPB, the Department of Justice is going after abuses in the subprime auto lending market. The DOJ has subpoenaed records dating from 2007 from General Motors concerning the securitization of its subprime auto loans. This follows on the heels of an $80 million settlement of a discrimination claim against Ally Bank in its subprime auto lending program. [8/6/14]
- NCUA Slaps the Wrist of Late Filers
62 of the 104 credit unions that filed their first-quarter 2014 Call Report data after the deadline were penalized by the NCUA, with the penalties ranging from $150 to $20,000. [8/6/14]
- FinCEN’s CDD Expansion Explained
Worried about FinCEN's proposed customer due diligence expansion to include beneficial owners? Better make sure you know what's coming. [8/6/14]
- Matz Appoints Metsger as Vice Chair
NCUA Chair Debbie Matz consulted with the NCUA General Counsel before designating board member Rick Metsger to serve as Vice Chair. Although the Federal Credit Union Act does not reference the position of Vice Chair, the NCUA Rules and Regulation had previously been interpreted to require that the board elect a member to serve in the Vice Chair position. [8/5/14]
- Holes in the CFPB’s Overdraft Report
The CFPB characterized overdraft fees as "gotchas," but does not address whether heavy overdrafters are engaged in deliberate or inadvertent activity, whether they are using overdrafts as a substitute for deposit advance loans, the use of text alerts for customers whose accounts dip below pre-set levels, and more. [8/5/14]
