You don't have to be a hypochondriac to be a little nervous about waiting for the results of a blood test, especially if you had cause to believe you might have some serious illness. The financial world’s equivalent of a blood test is the Fair Lending examination. Your examiner essentially puts your institution under the [...]
A current hot topic in politics is immigration. For hundreds of years, people have been coming to the United States for hundreds of different reasons. But politics and history aside, people keep moving to the United States, and these people earn and spend money, and have to make financial decisions. For someone in a new [...]
Originally published on CU Insight. At present, banks and credit unions are not required to know the identity of the individuals who own and/or control their legal entity customers or members. FinCEN and the federal law enforcement agencies have long seen this as a weakness in the BSA/AML programs that financial institutions are required to [...]
The CFPB's new interim final rule on Reg. Z will have an impact on operations in rural and underserved areas. But what exactly is an interim final rule, and what does it mean to your financial institution? An interim rule is a kind of hybrid between a final rule and a proposed rule. In this [...]
This article was originally published on CUInsight. As financial institutions become ever more vigilant in monitoring for suspicious activity, it seems that criminals find ever more inventive ways to launder money and commit financial crimes. One of the more recent tactics involves using “dirty” money to purchase prepaid cards that can then be used by, sold by, [...]
"New" HMDA knock you off your feet? Go here to order a webinar recording breaking things down piece by piece. Still reeling from the new TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosures, mortgage lenders got about a five-minute breather before the next big bombshell hit: the CFPB's amendments to the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act. Through the Act, Congress has charged [...]
The appraisal management industry has been subject to hefty regulation in years past, and the 2015 requirements follow suit in implementing even tighter standards. With such strong regulatory pressures fundamentally impacting the way financial institutions manage the appraisal function, it’s important to have a strong grasp on what these new AMC requirements entail. The final [...]
A version of this post was originally published on CU Insight. In case you missed it, the CFPB leveled a substantial fine—$7.5 million to be exact—upon Regions Bank earlier this year for flying way off course with its unlawful overdraft practices. The bank was required to refund at least $49 million in illegal overdraft fees to consumers [...]
With all the excitement surrounding the implementation of the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure rule, some other significant compliance changes got pushed to the back seat. Among them are clarifications to the Final Flood Insurance Rule Amendments, which went into effect Oct. 1, 2015, the result of efforts from five federal regulatory agencies. Other amendments to the flood insurance rules [...]
In 2013, the CFPB issued guidance on providing mortgage applicants with a list of homeownership counseling organizations. This spring, the bureau not only restated that guidance, but also added further guidance for mortgage lenders. With this further clarification we can expect to see greater scrutiny from the CFPB. Has your institution incorporated the new guidance [...]
