Links in “Banks”

President Obama is in the midst of a three-day rollout of cyber measures ahead of his State of the Union speech next week. Here's what it could mean for financial institutions. [1/13/15]

Two-thirds of respondents in a poll of bankers say that too often the same paper is resold to multiple collectors, resulting in multiple collection efforts of borrowers who have already paid. [1/13/15]

The game plan, according to this article in the New York Times, is to seize on complex financial activities that few understand, then make supposedly minor tweaks to their governing regulations that end up getting them. [1/12/15]

How should banks handle discrepancies between new CFPB expectations and existing contracts with service providers? According to this CFPB official, they must either renegotiate the contract or terminate the relationship. If the service provider won't renegotiate and termination will expose the supervised entity to breach of contract claims, the CFPB official touted the bureau's authority to take enforcement action against the service provider. [1/12/15]

Encore Capital obtained judgments against consumers for debts that were too old to collect, and must now get more than 4,500 in judgements totaling $18 million thrown out under terms of a settlement with New York. [1/12/15]

While there are no new major regulations imminent, what the recent round of huge regulatory changes should teach us is to design systems that are flexible enough to adapt to future changes. That was one "outlook for 2015" of three experts in this post. [1/12/15]

The CFPB has become the FTC on steroids, according to this writer, who suggests that banks have been pushed around long enough on questionable legal grounds and that the time has come for them to push back. [1/12/15]

Colorado's attorney general is warning residents of a debt collection scam where the callers pose as government agencies and have the victims' Social Security numbers. Tell-tale signs include threats of arrest, refusal to provide proof of debt, and typos, such as "Court House," "law suit," and "United Stetes of America." [1/9/15]

Senator Richard Shelby (R-Alabama) was elected chair of the Senate Banking Committee, replacing retiring Senator Tim Johnson (D-South Dakota). Dodd-Frank and the CFPB appear to be high on his agenda. [1/9/15]

CitiMortgage breaks into the wrong house, clears its contents, changes the locks, and posts the home. The right house was two doors down. The wrong house belonged to an attorney. It went downhill from there. [1/9/15]