February may be a short month, but you wouldn’t know that looking at the regulatory news that came out. From proposed regulations to court cases, the Ncontracts team of regulatory experts had a busy month tracking and analyzing the news.
Want to know what happened? Listen to this month’s Regulatory Update Podcast for all the details.
Read on for a brief overview. For more in-depth information, listen to the podcast or log into Ncomply.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is taking aim at digital mortgage comparison-shopping platforms in a new advisory. The bureau says these platforms may violate Section 8 of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) if the results are influenced by lenders paying for prime placement in the results because it violates prohibitions against kickbacks. The CFPB also warns that platforms need to be aware of other laws and regulations that apply, including UDAAP, among others.
Meanwhile, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) announced a $425,000 civil money penalty against a bank in a consent order that says the bank used a lead generation arrangement with a real estate website and online mortgage marketplace to disguise referral payments. It was a repeat RESPA violation for the bank after a 2019 settlement.
As part of its anti-junk fee initiative, the CFPB is seeking comments on a proposal to amend Reg Z to ensure credit card late fees are “reasonable and proportional.” The proposal would adjust the late fee safe harbor to $8 (including late fees for repeat violations), exclude safe harbor late fees caps from inflation adjustments, and cap late fees at 25 percent of the minimum payment. The CFPB is also considering prohibiting late fees if consumers make the required payment within 15 calendar days of the due date.
The FDIC, Federal Reserve, and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued a statement on the liquidity risks related to funding from crypto-asset related entities and encourages banks use to use existing risk management principles to manage unpredictably valued types of funding.
While the California Consumer Privacy Act Regulations (CCPAR) continues to move to final rulemaking after the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) signed off on it, the state’s attorney general announced it will be looking into mobile apps that fall short of the state’s data privacy law.
The New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) issued a final rule requiring NY state-chartered banks to collect and report data on how they are serving minority- and women-owned businesses in their communities. The rule is effective on August 8, 2023.
Related: Regulatory Update for March 2023: Final 1071 Rule, SVB's Failure, and Junk Fees
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