Remember the good old days (back in 1993) when you only needed to do an ACH audit once every three years? Apparently, NACHA didn’t feel that was enough. Now, you are required to perform an ACH audit every year by December 1 of each year. Hence, most financial institutions put off having their audits done [...]
The sources of income that you can use to meet the “independent ability to pay” test for a young applicant (under age 21) or for a young applicant that is requesting an increase in his/her credit limit is more restrictive than the income you can choose to rely on for a consumer who is age [...]
The Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act (SAFE Act) has changed how the residential mortgage loan industry operates at a very fundamental level. This sweeping legislation has created a nationwide licensing and registration system for residential mortgage loan originators (MLOs). The law seeks to provide accountability and tracking of MLOs, support anti-fraud measures, [...]
If you're involved in the compliance effort at your bank or credit union, you know that these are challenging times just to keep up with what is going on, let alone trying to prepare your institution to respond accordingly. Once a week, our new issues committee here at AffirmX gathers together to review what is [...]
There is something about a massive storm approaching that brings both wonder and a bit of terror to those that lie in its path. Having spent a pair of hurricane seasons in Haiti, and having seen the ravages of massive storms on ill prepared locales, I can appreciate the concern of those in the path [...]
Amendments to Regulation Z Effective Date Voluntary compliance with the rule was effective on May 3, 2013 when it was published in the Federal Register. Compliance is mandatory by November 4, 2013. Background The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has issued a final rule that amends Regulation Z and its Official Staff Interpretation in order [...]
Many of the compliance solutions providers that are on the market today offer a series of self-help tools to compliance officers and internal auditors. These self-help tools may include checklists, sample policies, and excel spreadsheet products to help you track and manage your internal compliance review process. This is all good stuff, but it doesn’t [...]
We were recently asked this question about the Dodd-Frank Act by one of our credit union clients and thought the information would be helpful to others who may have similar questions. The Dodd-Frank Act made specific changes to the sections of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) and Regulation B that pertain to the [...]
Rather than deal with the obvious, “How do I ensure a satisfactory rating on my next compliance examination?,” let’s deal with the most common type of compliance questions financial institutions ask. After all, you’d be hard pressed to say what is the most common type of Ice Cream (Vanilla, but you get the idea). As [...]
In December 2012, Congress passed and the President signed a bill that amended the Electronic Fund Transfers Act (EFTA) to address the issue of ATM signage. In response, the CFPB has now, at last, issued a final rule that amends Regulation E to eliminate the requirement that an ATM operator post a fee notice on [...]