This week, in line with the CFPB’s ever-increasing focus on fair lending, Fannie Mae issued a Fair Servicing Best Practices Guide to promote “servicer awareness of fair servicing best practices.” Taking a big picture approach, the guide states that servicers should ensure that “all borrowers are treated consistently and fairly throughout the loan servicing

On February 16, 2024, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced what it heralded as a significant update to its Supervisory Appeals Process. The first of its kind since 2015, this revision introduced a seemingly more inclusive and flexible approach to how financial entities can contest supervisory findings. The appeals process is intended to promote

Based upon “the mortgage industry’s evolution over time, the advancement of technology, and due to no longer needing to maintain several branch offices to conduct FHA business nationwide,” the FHA has adopted a new rule regarding branch registration. 

Under the prior rule, all FHA-approved mortgagees and lenders were required to register any branch office where

In an October 2023 advisory opinion, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) put large banks and credit unions on notice that the use of chatbots and other technologies could increase the risk of violating federal law if those services are ineffective. As we have previously written about, the CFPB’s advisory opinion interprets Section

On January 4, 2024, Connecticut Banking Commissioner Jorge L. Perez issued a temporary order to cease and desist against LoanSnap, Inc., ordering LoanSnap to cease and desist certain activities and notifying LoanSnap that its state mortgage lender license will be revoked and a civil money penalty will also be issued against it. The charges against the California-based

On October 12, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a joint statement emphasizing the risk associated with considering an applicant’s immigration status when making credit decisions. Specifically, the CFPB and DOJ emphasized that creditors should carefully consider how they use immigration status when accepting and evaluating applications and should

On September 19, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued Circular 2023-03, which provides guidance as to how lenders must explain denials of applications of credit when the underwriting is based on artificial intelligence (AI) or complex credit models. The upshot of the guidance is that a lender that denies an application for credit

Over the last year and a half, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has become increasingly interested in the origination, servicing, and collection of medical debt. The CFPB alone has published several pieces of industry guidance, 13 press releases concerning medical debt, and 12 reports concerning aspects of medical debt. Moreover, the CFPB is not

On July 7, the CFPB, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), and Department of the Treasury issued a formal request for information regarding forms of consumer-facing healthcare financing. The inquiry specifically solicits comments “from the public and interested parties on medical credit cards, loans, and other financial

In a continuation of enforcement activity related to redlining under October 2021’s Combatting Redlining Initiative, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on May 31, 2023, that ESSA Bank & Trust has agreed to pay $3 million to settle allegations that it engaged in redlining, a discriminatory practice in which lenders fail to provide