BankThink A plan to give CFPB’s new task force some teeth

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau recently announced the composition of its new task force, aimed at improving and strengthening federal consumer financial laws and regulations. The task force’s five members are all eminently qualified, with more than 150 years of academic, government and private-sector experience in consumer financial law and policy between them. But experience and professional distinction is no guarantee of productivity.

Attorney General Becerra Slams Proposal That Would Allow Predatory Lenders to Take Advantage of California’s Most Vulnerable Communities

SACRAMENTO – California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, co-leading a bipartisan coalition of attorneys general with Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and New York Attorney General Letitia James, submitted a comment letter opposing a proposal by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to exempt payday and other high-cost lenders from state usury laws. Usury laws prevent predatory lenders from taking advantage of consumers by charging high interest rates on loans. California recently enacted one such law capping interest rates for loans under $10,000. If finalized, the OCC’s proposed regulations would enable predatory lenders to circumvent these caps through “rent-a-bank” schemes, in which banks act as lenders in name only, passing along their state law exemptions to non-bank payday lenders. These arrangements would allow lenders to charge consumers rates that far exceed the rates permissible under California’s new law.

Debt Connection Symposium & Expo – September 15 – 17, 2020

DCS' Greatest Hits - Bringing back Meet The Regulators, The Great Debate, and so much more!  Great content, and super networking with VIP access Speed Networking, Expo, and Rockin' Rollin' Bowlin'  Save the Dates! Get more details at: DCS2020

Online registration now available at: DCS2020 Online Registration

Two Powerful New State CFPBs? California, New York Proposals May Rock the Financial World

Joining Pennsylvania, California looks to be the next state to create a state version of the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. And with recent pronouncements from New York that may place greater authority with its prudential regulator, will that state be far behind? We discuss both news stories below.

CFPB planning to eliminate DTI requirement from QM lending rules

Over the last several months, a number of the nation’s largest lenders and housing trade groups have called on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to make changes to the Ability to Repay/Qualified Mortgage rule. More specifically, Bank of America, Quicken Loans, Wells Fargo, Caliber Home Loans, along with the Mortgage Bankers Association, the American Bankers Association, the National Fair Housing Alliance, and others asked the CFPB to do away with the QM rule’s debt-to-income ratio requirement.

Hacker leaks passwords for more than 500,000 servers, routers, and IoT devices

A hacker has published this week a massive list of Telnet credentials for more than 515,000 servers, home routers, and IoT (Internet of Things) "smart" devices. The list, which was published on a popular hacking forum, includes each device's IP address, along with a username and password for the Telnet service, a remote access protocol that can be used to control devices over the internet. According to experts to who ZDNet spoke this week, and a statement from the leaker himself, the list was compiled by scanning the entire internet for devices that were exposing their Telnet port. The hacker than tried using (1) factory-set default usernames and passwords, or (2) custom, but easy-to-guess password combinations.

3 Evolving Social Media Trends to Embrace in 2020

The social media marketing landscape is so dynamic these days that it can be really difficult to keep up with. Social media marketing is now highly integrated into various workflows, and increasingly technology-driven, and those very same innovations are disrupting the way consumers discover and buy products online, influencing purchase journeys, and changing the way that customers interact with brands.

NAFCU reiterates remittance rule concerns to CFPB

NAFCU Senior Counsel for Research and Policy Andrew Morris sent a letter to the CFPB Tuesday addressing NAFCU's continued concerns about remittance transfers under the Electronic Fund Transfer Act. Last month, the CFPB issued a proposal related to its remittance rule that included an increase to the safe harbor threshold from its current level of 100 transfers in the previous and current calendar year to 500 transfers. Previously, NAFCU had urged the Bureau to adopt an even larger change.

So far, under California’s new privacy law, firms are disclosing too little data — or far too much

The measure was supposed to provide consumers more transparency about their data. It’s looking more like a muddle.  A new consumer privacy law in California was supposed to push companies toward greater transparency around the reams of data they collect every day. But weeks after the landmark law went into effect, the early results are not yet bringing consumers much clarity. The California Consumer Privacy Act, which took effect Jan. 1 after being adopted in 2018, was hailed by privacy advocates as a great leap forward in holding companies accountable for how they handle personal data, one that would give U.S. consumers their first real glimpse at how they are being monitored and profited from online.

Oversight Without Travel – Call Monitoring Course Just Released!

Just released - the first class in the Oversight Without Travel Series, taught by Ken Evancic. For auditors of third party collection agencies - learn tips and techniques for enhancing your oversight with a regularly-scheduled, efficient and effective call monitoring program. In this case, learn oversight techniques without traveling to class with our new training platform, and learn to effectively and efficiently conduct call monitoring without traveling to your vendors' site. This course covers why you should monitoring vendor calls, and how to do so efficiently and effectively with maximum results. Learn how to sample, tips and techniques, and building your own scorecard for monitoring third party vendor performance.  https://CallMonitoringOversight 
Learn at your own pace, and go back anytime during the year. 

US Could Appoint a Cybersecurity Leader for Each State

The USA is considering legislation that would protect local governments by requiring the appointment of a cybersecurity leader for each state. Backers of the Cybersecurity State Coordinator Act of 2020 say the proposed law will improve intelligence sharing between state and federal governments and speed up incident response times in the event of a cyber-attack. Under the legislation, the director of the Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency would be tasked with appointing an employee of the agency in each state to serve as cybersecurity state coordinator. 

Banks that shun risky borrowers offer rosy view of U.S. consumer

With most U.S. households spending more and paying their bills on time, their creditors are feeling more confident than ever. To hear the CEOs of the nation's largest banks tell it this week, rarely has the American consumer been in better shape. But look deeper and it's clear that view of the broad U.S. economy has its limits. They're basing their assessments on clients lucky enough to bank with eight of the biggest lenders, with a combined $11 trillion in assets.

Debt Collection for Businesses Is Now Easier Online

You may be thinking of an effective way to try and regain a percentage of money owed to you. After you’ve sent friendly reminders, a letter of demand and informal negotiations, to name a few, you may want to consider getting the help of a small business collection agency which you can easily reach online. A debt collection service will attempt recovery with ideally the entire amount. They either charge a fixed amount or a percentage of the money recovered. 

CEO says Bank of America aims to ‘double’ its U.S. consumer market share – Financial Times

(Reuters) - Brian Moynihan, the chief executive officer of Bank of America Corp (BAC.N), has said the bank could double its consumer market share in the United States despite fears about the power of the country’s largest banking institutions. “Our market share in consumer is probably 12, 13, 14 percent, depending on who counts . ...  The reality is, you could double that,” Moynihan said in an interview with the Financial Times, pointing out that some auto, soft drink and beer companies had massively more consumer share than Bank of America.

Don’t fall for this scam site that promises to pay you back for data breaches

So many data breaches have happened in the past 12 months that it’s hard to keep track of them all. Each one had unique effects on their respective industries, and naturally, consumers are the ones paying the price for negligence and poor cybersecurity. But still, affected parties are hanging on to hope that justice might be served. Developments like the Equifax settlement seemed like an optimistic step in the right direction, but the reality of the class action payments has left many victims feeling cynical. 

CGI WILL BE EXHIBITING AT THE COLLECTION AND RECOVERY SOLUTIONS 2020 CONFERENCE IN LAS VEGAS!

We are happy to announce that CGI will be exhibiting at the Collection and Recovery Solutions 2020 Conference in Las Vegas May 6-8, 2020 at the Four Seasons Hotel.  Stop by booth 11 and visit with the CGI gang.

 Founded in 1976, CGI is among the largest IT and business consulting services firms in the world. Operating in hundreds of locations across the globe, CGI delivers an end-to-end portfolio of capabilities, from strategic IT and business consulting to systems integration, managed IT and business process services and intellectual property solutions. CGI works with clients through a local relationship model complemented by a global delivery network to help clients achieve their goals, including becoming customer-centric digital enterprises.

For more information about CGI, visit them at http://www.cgi.com/collections .

For more information about the Collections and Recovery Solutions conference please visit us at http://www.collectionrecoverysolutions.com/

Scam Squad: FTC warns of car wrap scams

The student loan debt is $1.6 trillion and people are struggling to pay it down

Bankruptcy filings edged up across Arizona in 2019

4 Ways to Improve Borrower Experience to Meet Fintech Challenges

Busy consumers won't settle for slow financial institution personal loan application and approval processes when they can have easier experiences and quicker answers with fintech lenders. Taking these critical steps can make the difference between staying in the personal credit game and surrendering to more-agile newcomers.

Lawmakers call for FTC probe into top financial data aggregator

A group of lawmakers on Friday called on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate one of the top financial data aggregators in the U.S., questioning whether it is collecting reams of sensitive information on Americans without adequate consent. Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), alongside Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.), said the FTC should probe Envestnet, a huge financial services company that owns the largest consumer financial data aggregator in the U.S. The probe comes as Congress has intensified its scrutiny of large corporations collecting personal information on nearly every American. 

Defendants in FTC Credit Repair Scheme Case Agree to Settle Charges

The operators of a bogus credit repair scheme are banned from the credit repair business and subject to a wide array of other requirements under settlement terms with the Federal Trade Commission.   The settlements relate to an FTC complaint filed in June 2019 alleging that the defendants targeted consumers with false promises of substantially improving consumers’ credit scores by claiming to remove all negative items and “hard” credit inquiries (which can often change a consumer’s credit score) from consumers’ credit reports. In addition, the FTC alleged the defendants illegally charged upfront fees for their services and advised consumers to mislead credit bureaus and lenders, as well as threatening consumers with lawsuits when they complained or disputed charges.

RMAI Supports New York’s Efforts to License Debt Collectors

January 17, 2020 (Sacramento, CA):  The Receivables Management Association International (RMAI) supports New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s initiative announced last week in his State of the State Address in which he calls for the licensure of debt collection businesses. RMAI has long been a proponent of state licensing.   “Licensure is not only good for consumers, but it is also good for the receivables industry” said RMAI Executive Director Jan Stieger. “Licensure is highly consistent with the principles contained in RMAI’s Receivables Management Certification Program, which advances consumer protections by establishing the industry standards for best practices.”

We are accepting applications for our Advisory Committees

To ensure that the CFPB hears from a variety of external experts with diverse viewpoints, we established the Consumer Advisory Board, the Community Bank Advisory Council, the Credit Union Advisory Council, and the Academic Research Council. These advisory committees provide the Bureau with information about emerging trends and practices in the consumer financial marketplace. They also allow us to hear directly from small financial institutions.

The U.K. credit card market at a glance

While not as large as the U.S. both in number of people and number of credit card owners, the U.K. remains a very lucrative market for issuing banks and card networks, as well as a host of alternative financial service providers catering to younger, underserved consumers.

In 2017 there were just over 32.3 million adult credit card owners possessing a total of roughly 60 million cards or about two different cards per owner, according to the UK Cards Association (now rebranded UK Finance). Given that the Office for National Statistics reported that there were approximately 52.4 million adults 18 and over in the country in 2018, this gives the U.K. a credit card penetration rate of about 62%,

TCPA – Are You Willing To Bet The Company? Highlighted at CRS2020

David Kaminski and Manny Newburger take on the important topic of TCPA in 2020.  Find out more about what should be done, and what can be done in this highlighted session at Collection and Recovery Solutions 2020 (CRS2020)

CRS2020 will be held May 6th - 8th at the Four Seasons in Las Vegas. This is a limited space, invitation-only event for senior level creditors in Collection and Recovery.  For additional details, see 

http://www.collectionrecoverysolutions.com/

If you're interested in receiving an invitation, contact crs@resourcemanagement.com.

Democrats on House Financial Services Committee Forward Letter to GAO Inquiring About Alternative Data and Access to Credit

Democrat members of the House Financial Services Committee have sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) inquiring about the usage of alternative data by lenders and credit agencies.   Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Chairwoman of the Committee, Congressman Al Green (D-TX), Chair of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, Congressman Bill Foster (D-IL), Chair of the Task Force on Artificial Intelligence, Congressman Stephen Lynch (D-MA), Chair of the Task Force on Financial Technology, and Congressman Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), each signed the letter.

Federal Reserve Giving Direct Access to Repo Lending?

What is a “repo”?  This is a term for the practice of overnight lending between financial institutions that typically put up "safe" collateral such as treasury bonds and other “safe” securities and then repay the following day. This practice allows banks to settle their accounts for things like mortgage loans by borrowing cash against the securities they own. Typically, the overnight rate will be one of the lowest rates and only available to those with the highest levels of creditworthiness.  Late last year, however, illiquidity in the overnight markets saw the interest rates climbing as high as 10%. The reason that the rates can climb to such a degree is because of a scarcity of cash available to the banks. 

Voice cloning: Where WOW meets OMG

Have you had this experience? You hear about a remarkable innovation, but before you can finish the phrase “That’s amaz . . . .” you’ve already jumped ahead to the questions and concerns it raises. That’s how many people are responding to voice cloning – emerging technologies that let users make near-perfect reproductions of a person’s voice. It’s also the subject of You Don’t Say: An FTC Workshop on Voice Cloning Technologies, scheduled for January 28, 2020. You’ll want to check out the just-announced agenda.

Colorado bankers group tells regulator credit union not ‘authorized’ to buy bank

The Colorado Bankers Association asked the state banking board in a letter this week to stop Elevation Credit Union’s plan to buy the assets of Cache Bank & Trust because credit unions can’t be "authorized purchasers" of banks, according to language in several Colorado statutes.

CFPB Taskforce Will Conduct Much Needed Review Of Consumer Financial Laws

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has announced the members of a new task force that will undertake a complete review of U.S. consumer financial laws. Among them, the four members have decades of public service and consumer protection experience, and they include some of the country’s leading consumer credit economists.

Windows 10 Has a Security Flaw So Severe the NSA Disclosed It

Microsoft released a patch for Windows 10 and Server 2016 today after the National Security Agency found and disclosed a serious vulnerability. It's a rare but not unprecedented tip-off, one that underscores the flaw's severity—and maybe hints at new priorities for the NSA. The bug is in Windows' mechanism for confirming the legitimacy of software or establishing secure web connections. If the verification check itself isn't trustworthy, attackers can exploit that fact to remotely distribute malware or intercept sensitive data.

What California Privacy Laws mean for other states

After months of lobbying, hand-wringing, and debate , the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) finally went into effect Jan. 1.  It grants California residents powerful new privacy protections, some of which could be extended to consumers across the country. However, it will take months for all the regulations to kick in and even longer to see how effectively the law reins in the worst privacy infringements.

Redwood Credit Union celebrates 70 years of service

Redwood Credit Union (RCU), Santa Rosa, Calif., is proud to announce its celebration of 70 years of service to members. Originally formed by seven County of Sonoma employees as an affordable means to make bridge loans to fellow employees between paychecks, the credit union has grown to offer full service personal and business banking, as well as financial services beyond banking such as financial planning, insurance, and even an auto sales center.

Digital Lending Platform Seen Hitting $17 Billion by 2025

Digital Lending Platform market is projected to surpass USD 17 billion by 2025. The market growth is attributed to the growing demand among financial institutions, such as banks and NBFCs, to reduce the risk of frauds and NPAs. The growing digitization and rapid cloud adoption across financial institutions are proliferating the market growth. (Source: Global Market Insights Inc.)

Big banks did big mortgage business in the fourth quarter

While the tallying up isn’t quite done yet, all indications are that 2019 will end up being a very good year for the mortgage business. Thanks to mortgage rates that were consistently a full percentage point below 2018’s rates for much of the year, last year saw a significant rise in mortgage originations. That was clearly seen at Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Citigroup, which all saw their respective mortgage originations rise in each quarter of 2019.

Wells Fargo loses another patent lawsuit to USAA

Wells Fargo has lost a second mobile deposit patent lawsuit brought against it by USAA in a federal court in Marshall, Tex. The San Francisco-based bank was fined $102.8 million for improperly infringing on USAA's patents for mobile deposit. It is the second recent loss for Wells Fargo versus USAA. In November, Wells Fargo was fined $200 million for infringing on two other patents.

Bank Of America’s Erica Surpasses 10M User Mark

Zelle peer-to-peer (P2P) payments increased 76 percent year-over-year in the fourth quarter of 2019, Bank of America said on Wednesday (Jan. 15), marking the latest growth surge for that payment method. During the quarter, consumers made 95 million payments worth $23.8 billion using Zelle. In its Q4 financial release, Bank of America also gave updates on its mobile and digital efforts. The financial institution said 29 percent of all consumer sales were digital and 53 percent of all digital sales came via mobile. As it stands, Bank of America now has 38.3 million active digital banking users, along with 29.2 million active mobile banking users.

Big banks did big mortgage business in the fourth quarter

While the tallying up isn’t quite done yet, all indications are that 2019 will end up being a very good year for the mortgage business.   Thanks to mortgage rates that were consistently a full percentage point below 2018’s rates for much of the year, last year saw a significant rise in mortgage originations.  That was clearly seen at Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Citigroup, which all saw their respective mortgage originations rise in each quarter of 2019.

We are accepting applications for our Advisory Committees

To ensure that the CFPB hears from a variety of external experts with diverse viewpoints, we established the Consumer Advisory Board, the Community Bank Advisory Council, the Credit Union Advisory Council, and the Academic Research Council. These advisory committees provide the Bureau with information about emerging trends and practices in the consumer financial marketplace. They also allow us to hear directly from small financial institutions.

Lawmakers talk CECL’s negative impacts, lack of understanding at hearing

Several lawmakers flagged the potential economic consequences of the current expected credit loss (CECL) standard and criticized the lack of understanding about its impact during a House Financial Services Subcommittee on Investor Protection, Entrepreneurship, and Capital Markets hearing Wednesday featuring Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) Chairman Russell Golden.

ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME ANNOUNCES 2020 INDUCTEES AND DCS2020 ANNOUNCES ROCKIN’ ROLLIN’ BOWLIN’ EVENT

Get the band back together and have some fun at the “Rockin’ Rollin’ Cosmic Bowling” Competition and Extravaganza Tournament! There’s fun and games for one and all. Join us for a great networking event after a full day of meetings, session, showcases and Expo.  On Wednesday, September 16th, a special bowling tournament and networking reception is being planned for attendees. Make plans to compete with your peers, or against your peers, with your clients, or challenge your clients!

Debt Connection Symposium and Expo 2020 will be held on September 15-17, 2020 at the Red Rock Hotel in Las Vegas, NV.  For more information about Debt Connection Symposium and Expo 2020 please go to https://debtconnectionsymposium.com/

Can California’s mini-CFPB pick up slack left by federal agency?

An effort by California to create a powerful state consumer protection bureau could have a significant impact on banks, debt collectors and other financial firms as Gov. Gavin Newsom seeks to fight against the Trump administration's regulatory rollback.   The new agency, modeled on the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, is being pushed by former CFPB Director Richard Cordray and several other former agency officials. If approved by California's legislature, it would create a new office of innovation within the agency and subject more financial firms to state oversight.

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ACA International 2020 Spring Forum & Expo

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National Association of Chapter 13 Trustees 2020

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Debt Connection Symposium & Expo 2020

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