Fair Lending Shake-Ups: CFPB Vacates Townstone Settlement, FHFA Ends GSEs' Special Purpose Credit Programs — The Consumer Finance Podcast
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On March 12, Arkansas enacted HB 1466 which amends the state’s Fair Mortgage Lending Act. HB 1466 introduces a set of definitions and regulatory requirements for mortgage brokers, bankers, servicers, loan officers, and...more
Following lengthy litigation, the CFPB is attempting to close the books on its case against Townstone Financial alleging discriminatory lending practices and redlining African American neighborhoods in Chicago....more
In a significant development, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) has finally reached a settlement with Townstone Financial, Inc. (Townstone) in the first redlining case brought against a nonbank...more
On October 29, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin and the state’s Division on Civil Rights (DCR) released a report detailing the findings of a multi-year investigation into Republic First Bank (Republic) and its...more
On October 15, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that they reached a settlement with Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation (Fairway). This settlement...more
Previously, I have written about regulatory enforcement of anti-redlining regulations. I pointed out the problems and potentially misleading statistical conclusions caused by the application of what is called a “REMA” or...more
Many bankers hear the term “Statistical Significance” but don’t know what it means and how it is relevant to potential fair lending violations. Typically, when an examiner is evaluating if a bank is redlining, they will...more
As any bank professional regulatory compliance professional knows redlining is the hottest issue today and has been since Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the “Combatting Redlining Initiative” in October 2021. Since...more
In a recent article in National Mortgage Professional entitled "Manufacturing Fair Lending”, former chief of the Housing and Civil Enforcement Section at the Department of Justice under Attorney General William Barr, Paul...more
In emails in recent months we've warned bankers about the extremely aggressive enforcement of anti-redlining policies. This is becoming more and more obvious every day as more banks get threatened with referral to the DOJ....more
Every banker should know by now that the Department of Justice announced an “Anti-Redlining” crusade in October 2021. In his October 2021, press release, Attorney General Merrick Garland, proclaimed that redlining is...more
For the last two years, the federal regulatory agencies have been waging a war on redlining by mortgage lenders — a war that shows no signs of abating. Originally published in Law360 - December 12, 2023....more
There has been much understandable handwringing about the new CRA and its complexity as well as the high CRA exam failure rate predicted by regulators based on the new assessment areas and the higher performance standards...more
As I write this article the Department of Justice is pursuing a record-breaking number of “redlining” cases against banks and mortgage lenders. The “Anti-redlining Initiative” was announced October 22, 2021, by Attorney...more
Last week, the annual Community Reinvestment Act & Fair Lending Colloquium took place in Austin, Texas. Two officials from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) discussed in detail the “Combatting Redlining Initiative” led by...more
In the last three weeks, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) reached two more settlements with lenders under its Combatting Redlining Initiative, which began in October 2021. On September 27, the DOJ announced that...more
In this article, we share a timeline of our monthly "bites" for 2022 applicable to consumers protected by nondiscrimination and military protection laws. The CFPB has historically been particularly active with respect to...more
The New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) issued a report on February 4, 2021, detailing its investigation of the mortgage lending market in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The report includes findings about a...more
Year In Review - Anand Raman, the head of Skadden’s Consumer Financial Services (CFS) practice, began the conference by providing a summary of notable events and trends over the past year relating to consumer financial...more
The Independent Community Bankers of America issued a statement calling on the Trump administration “to rein in the overzealous application of fair lending laws.” ICBA stated that community banks are threatened by a recent...more
The CFPB has issued a report covering its fair lending activities during 2015. The report states that in 2015, CFPB fair lending supervisory and public enforcement actions required institutions to provide approximately $108...more
The CFPB's website states, "Other regulators focus on the safety and soundness of the financial institutions first. The CFPB is the first to focus primarily on the American consumer." The CFPB's actions, however, may have the...more
On October 15, 2015, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a final rule amending Regulation C, which implements the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA). At nearly 800 pages, the new HMDA rule changes (i) the...more
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) finalized a rule yesterday aimed at providing the public and regulators with meaningful information concerning the lending practices of financial institutions....more
Consistent with recent indications from CFPB and Department of Justice officials that more redlining cases would soon be coming, the CFPB and DOJ have announced a proposed consent order with Hudson City Savings Bank to settle...more