The Week Ahead: CFPB to Deliver Update to Congress

On Thursday, December 15 at 9:00 a.m. Central, the U.S. Senate Banking Committee will host “The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Semi-Annual Report to Congress” at the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

Testifying on behalf of the CFPB will be the Honorable Rohit Chopra, Director of the Bureau.

As CFPB Director, Chopra operates the Bureau, a unit of the Federal Reserve System charged with protecting families and honest businesses from illegal practices by financial institutions, and ensuring that markets for consumer financial products and services are fair, transparent, and competitive. As Director, Chopra is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC).

In 2018, Chopra was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate as a Commissioner on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), where he served until assuming office as CFPB Director. During his tenure at the FTC, he successfully worked to strengthen sanctions against repeat offenders, to reverse the agency’s reliance on no-money, no-fault settlements in fraud cases, and to halt abuses of small businesses.

Chopra previously served at the CFPB from 2010-2015. In 2011, the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury designated him as the agency’s student loan ombudsman, where he led the Bureau’s efforts on student lending issues.

Prior to his government service, Chopra worked at McKinsey & Company, the global management consultancy, where he worked in the financial services, healthcare, and consumer technology sectors.

The CFPB recently acted against Carrington Mortgage Services for deceptive acts or practices under the Consumer Financial Protection Act in connection with mortgage forbearances. The CFPB found that Carrington failed to implement many protections, provided to borrowers with federally backed mortgage loans who were experiencing financial hardship, during the COVID-19 public health emergency. The CFPB found that Carrington misled certain homeowners who had sought a forbearance under the CARES Act into paying improper late fees, deceived consumers about forbearance and repayment options, and inaccurately reported the forbearance status of borrowers to the big three credit reporting companies: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. The CFPB ordered Carrington to repay any late fees not already refunded, repair its faulty business practices, and pay a $5.25 million penalty that will be deposited into the CFPB’s victims’ relief fund. As of September 2020, Carrington serviced nearly half a million federally backed mortgage loans: more than 65% were Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans, nearly 20% were U.S. Department of Agriculture loans, slightly more than 10% were Veterans Benefits Administration loans, and about 5% were loans backed by GSEs.

Click here for more information or to register for the Senate Banking Committee hearing, “The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Semi-Annual Report to Congress.”

Here's what else is happening in The Week Ahead:

• Fannie Mae's Refinance Application-Level Index (RALI) (Tuesday)
• MBA Weekly Applications Survey (Wednesday)
• House Financial Services Committee Hearing: Consumers First: Semi-Annual Report of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Wednesday)
• Realtor.com Weekly Housing Market Recap (Wednesday)
• Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey (Thursday)
• U.S. Department of Labor's Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report (Thursday)