Alston & Bird Consumer Finance Blog

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)

The COVID-19 National Emergency is Ending: Are mortgage servicers ready?

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A&B Abstract:

On January 30, 2023, President Biden informed Congress that the COVID-19 National Emergency (the “COVID Emergency”) will be extended beyond March 1, 2023, but that he anticipates terminating the national emergency on May 11, 2023. The White House Briefing Room reiterated the President’s position on February 10, 2023. Given the significant updates mortgage servicers made to their compliance management systems (“CMS”) to ensure compliance with the myriad of COVID-19-related laws, regulations and guidance issued in response to the pandemic, servicers should begin evaluating their CMS now to determine whether updates are necessary to minimize the risk of non-compliance and consumer harm as the COVID Emergency comes to an end. Set forth below, we discuss some of the key areas on which servicers should focus as they develop a plan for winding down COVID-19 protections.

Background

The COVID-19 pandemic created unprecedented operational challenges for mortgage servicers – challenges servicers sought to overcome through significant actions that were taken at the outset of the pandemic and over the last three years to implement the myriad of federal and state laws, regulations, and guidance that were enacted or promulgated in response to the pandemic.

Indeed, in response to the pandemic, the US Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (“CARES”) Act, Sections 4021 and 4022 of which provided certain borrowers impacted by the pandemic with certain credit reporting and mortgage-related protections.

Section 4021 of the CARES Act amended the Fair Credit Reporting Act by adding a new section providing special instructions for reporting consumer credit information to credit reporting agencies when a creditor or other furnisher offers an “accommodation” to a consumer affected by the pandemic during the “covered period,” which ends 120 days after the COVID Emergency terminates.

Section 4022 of the CARES Act granted forbearance rights and protection against foreclosure to certain borrowers with a “federally backed mortgage loan.” Specifically, during the “covered period,” a borrower with a federally backed mortgage loan who is experiencing a financial hardship that is due, directly or indirectly, to the COVID Emergency may request forbearance on their loan, regardless of delinquency status, by submitting a request to their servicer during and affirming that they are experiencing a financial hardship during the COVID Emergency. When the CARES Act was enacted, there was uncertainty in the industry as to how to define the “covered period” as the term was undefined. However, because the borrower must attest to a financial hardship during the COVID Emergency, the industry came to understand the “covered period” to be synonymous with the COVID Emergency, such that borrower requests received outside the COVID Emergency need not be granted.

Additionally, under Section 4022, a servicer of a federally backed mortgage loan were prohibited from initiating any judicial or nonjudicial foreclosure process, moving for a foreclosure judgment or order of sale, or executing a foreclosure-related eviction or foreclosure sale (except with respect to vacant and abandoned properties) through May 16, 2020.

In response to the CARES Act, mortgage servicers were inundated with directives issued by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”), the US Department of Veterans Affairs (“VA”), the US Department of Agriculture (“USDA”), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”), as well as the guidelines published by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (collectively, the “Agencies”), as the Agencies (other than the CFPB) were tasked with implementing the protections afforded by the CARES Act.  As result of these directives, servicers were required to quickly implement changes to their servicing operations, while ensuring accurate communication of such changes to its customers. For example, HUD alone issued over 20 mortgagee letters since the outset of the pandemic that were directly related to the operations of HUD-approved servicers.

In addition to the Agencies, several states either passed legislation, promulgated regulations or issued directives that mortgage servicers were required to implement. Servicers were also required to respond to the CFPB’s Prioritized Assessments, inquiries from Congress, and requests from the Agencies. Accordingly, servicers devoted substantial legal, compliance, and training resources to ensure compliance with applicable laws and requirements.

In implementing the foregoing laws and regulations, servicers made significant updates to their CMS and the various components that support an effective CMS, including, among others, policies, procedures, training, scripting, correspondence, system updates, and vendor management. Similarly, now that the COVID Emergency appears to be nearing an end, servicers should reevaluate what updates are necessary to effectively wind-down COVID-19 protections while minimizing regulatory risk and consumer harm.

Below we discuss several issues servicers should be particularly mindful of in developing a plan for winding down COVID-19 protections.

Key Areas of Focus for Servicers

Agency/GSE Guidelines: The myriad of Agency guidance issued in response to the pandemic included new and evolving requirements regarding the offering of COVID-19 Forbearance Plans, COVID-19-specific loss mitigation options, and other COVID-19-related borrower protections. For example, HUD, VA, and USDA have largely tied a borrower’s ability to request an initial COVID-19 Forbearance to the expiration of the COVID Emergency. HUD has indicated that a borrower may only request an additional forbearance extension of up to six months if the initial forbearance will be exhausted and expires during the COVID Emergency. On the other hand, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have previously informally indicated that servicers should continue to process borrower requests for COVID-19 Forbearances until the GSEs announce otherwise. Moreover, there is the possibility that all or some of the Agencies will expand post-forbearance COVID-19 protections to a broader class of borrowers given the apparent success of the streamlined options. On January 30, 2023, HUD issued a mortgagee letter (which was corrected and reissued on February 13th) extending its COVID-19 Recovery Loss Mitigation Options to include additional eligible borrowers, increase its COVID-19 Recovery Partial Claims, and add incentive payments to servicers. Notably, the mortgagee letter does not appear to update HUD’s existing guidance on the availability of COVID-19 Forbearance Plans, and it temporarily suspends several of HUD’s non-COVID-19 loss mitigation options, such as all FHA-HAMP options. In preparing for the end of the COVID Emergency, servicers should ensure that they identify and carefully review applicable Agency guidelines to determine what, if any, updates to existing processes are necessary.

Policies, Procedures, and Training: Whether a servicer created a specific COVID-19/CARES Act policy and/or updated its existing policies to reflect applicable COVID-19 protections, servicers must now review and update those policies to ensure they do not inaccurately reflect requirements no longer in effect as a result of the termination of the COVID Emergency. As a reminder, Regulation X requires servicers to maintain policies and procedures that are reasonably designed to achieve the objectives in 12 C.F.R. § 1024.38. Commentary to Regulation X clarifies that “procedures” refers to the actual practices followed by the servicer. Thus, servicers should ensure that its procedures reflect its policies. It is also important that updated and accurate training and job aids are provided to servicing employees, particularly to consumer service representatives, to ensure clear, accurate, and up to date information is communicated to consumers. It’s also a good time to ensure that policies, procedures, and training reflect the expiration of certain CFPB COVID-19-related measures. For example, the enhanced live contact requirements for borrowers experiencing COVID-19 related hardships were in effect from August 31, 2021 through October 1, 2022.

Scripts, Letters and Agreements: The CFPB called for mortgage servicers to take proactive steps to assist borrowers impacted by COVID-19 including prioritizing clear communications and proactive outreach to borrowers. In response, servicers updated communications through emails, texts, letters, loss mitigation agreements, buck slips, periodic statements, and other standard communications alerting borrowers of requirements for accepting and processing requests for forbearance, approving forbearance requests, providing credit reporting accommodations, and providing information on post-forbearance loss mitigation options and foreclosure. One of the standards the CFPB uses in assessing whether an unfair, deceptive, or abusive act or practice (“UDAAP”) occurred is whether a representation, omission, act or practice is deceptive, meaning that it misleads or is likely to mislead the consumer, the consumer’s interpretation of the representation is reasonable under the circumstances, and the misleading representation, omission, act or practice is material. Thus, it is important for servicers to review their communication library to make sure outdated CARES Act and other COVID-19-related information is not included in borrower communications.

System Updates: Throughout the last three years servicers were required to implement substantial system enhancements to ensure compliance with the myriad of requirements that arose in response to the pandemic. These enhancements included, among others, stop codes to ensure compliance with applicable foreclosure moratoria; changes to loss mitigation decisioning systems to reflect new and revised loss mitigation waterfalls; updates to borrower-facing websites and interactive voice response (“IVR”) systems to provide borrowers with information on available COVID-19 protections and to facilitate a borrower’s ability to self-serve when requesting a COVID-19 Forbearance; enhancing credit reporting systems to ensure accurate credit reporting for borrowers who are provided an accommodation under the CARES Act; and implementing system updates to ensure compliance with applicable fee restrictions. Given the significant time, effort, and resources required to implement the foregoing enhancements, servicers should begin evaluating their systems now to determine what changes are necessary to reflect that some or all of these protections will no longer be in effect.

State Law: In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, several states (including but not limited to California, the District of Columbia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, and Oregon) enacted their own protections, most of which have since expired. Now is the time for servicers to ensure that their CMS is updated to reflect that these laws are no longer in effect.

Instructions to Service Providers: Many servicers rely on third-party service providers to provide certain support functions. During the pandemic, reliance on such service providers was even more critical as servicers worked to implement the above-referenced requirements. Such service providers include, among others, print/mail vendors, foreclosure counsel, and third-party customer support representatives. In preparing for the end of the COVID Emergency, servicers should ensure accurate and consistent instructions are provided to, and appropriate oversight is exercised over, service providers to ensure compliance with applicable law and to minimize UDAAP risk.

Takeaway

The implementation of federal and state COVID-19 protections required that servicers devote substantial time, effort, and resources to ensure consumers could avail themselves of available protections and to minimize the risk of harm. Unfortunately, when the pandemic first began, servicers did not have the luxury of time when implementing these measures. However, given that the end of the COVID Emergency is not until May 11th, servicers should utilize this time to think through what impact the termination of the emergency will have on their current processes and controls, and begin making necessary updates.

CFPB Issues Advisory Opinion Warning Against Kickbacks for Mortgage Rate Shopping Platforms

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A&B ABstract:

Last week, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued an advisory opinion to address the applicability of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA)’s Section 8 – the anti-kickback provision – to operators of certain digital technology platforms that enable consumers to comparison shop for mortgages and other real estate settlement services. These platforms include those that generate potential leads for the platform participants through consumers’ interactions with the platform, referred to by the CFPB as Digital Mortgage Comparison-Shopping Platforms.

The Advisory Opinion

The Advisory Opinion is an interpretive rule issued under the CFPB’s authority to interpret RESPA and Regulation X, including under section 1022(b)(1) of the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010, which authorizes guidance as may be necessary or appropriate to enable the CFPB to administer and carry out the purposes and objectives of federal consumer financial laws.

The Advisory Opinion provides that an operator of a Digital Mortgage Comparison-Shopping Platform violates RESPA section 8 if the platform provides enhanced placement or otherwise steers consumers to platform participants based on compensation the platform operator receives from those participants rather than based on neutral criteria.

More specifically, the Advisory Opinion states that an operator of a Digital Mortgage Comparison-Shopping Platform receives a prohibited referral fee in violation of RESPA section 8 when: (1) the Digital Mortgage Comparison-Shopping Platform non-neutrally uses or presents information about one or more settlement service providers participating on the platform; (2) such non-neutral use or presentation of information has the effect of steering the consumer to use, or otherwise affirmatively influences the selection of, those settlement service providers, thus constituting referral activity; and (3) the operator receives a payment or other thing of value that is, at least in part, for that referral activity. In other words, where the platform’s operator presents lenders based on extracted referral payments rather than the shopper’s personal data or preferences or other objective criteria, the platform has violated section 8 of RESPA. The CFPB provides two (2) examples of prohibited conduct:

  • Platform operator presents a lender as the best option because that lender pays the highest referral fee. However, the shopper is led to believe the lender was selected based on their shared personal data or preferences.
  • Platform receives payments from lenders to rotate them as the top presented option regardless of whether the highlighted lender is the best fit for the shopper.

Furthermore, if an operator of a Digital Mortgage Comparison-Shopping Platform receives a higher fee for including one settlement service provider compared to what it receives for including other settlement service providers participating on the same platform, the CFPB views this as evidence of an illegal referral fee arrangement (absent other facts indicating that the payment is not for enhanced placement or other form of steering). Ultimately, where a platform’s formula is designed to steer shoppers to use providers in which the operator has a financial stake, the platform has violated section 8 of RESPA.

Takeaway

The CFPB is concerned that Digital Mortgage Comparison-Shopping Platforms, particularly popular during a time of increasing mortgage interest rates, may attempt to take advantage of consumers rather than provide them with a neutral and fair presentation of the providers that may best meet their mortgage or other settlement needs. Any entity involved, even tangentially, in the mortgage settlement process, should ensure that services are offered based on neutral criteria rather than the compensation received from a third-party provider.

Moving to Address Appraisal Bias, Agencies and the Appraisal Foundation Issue Updates

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A&B ABstract:

 A year and a half after President Biden’s announcement of the Interagency Task Force on Property Appraisal and Valuation Equity (“PAVE”), the past weeks have seen a flurry of activity from federal agencies and the Appraisal Foundation to address issues of bias in residential property appraisal.  What should lenders, servicers, and appraisers know?

Background:

In June 2021, President Biden announced the formation of the PAVE Task Force, comprising 13 federal agencies, including the White House Domestic Policy Council.  He tasked the group with identifying and evaluating “the causes, extent, and consequences of appraisal bias and to establish a transformative set of recommendations to root out racial and ethnic bias in home valuations.”

In March 2022, the member agencies of the PAVE Task Force published an action plan, announcing a series of concrete commitments to address appraisal bias in five broad categories:

  • strengthening guardrails against discrimination in all stages of residential valuation;
  • enhancing fair housing and fair lending enforcement, and driving accountability in the appraisal industry;
  • building a diverse, well-trained, and accessible appraiser workforce;
  • empowering consumers to take action against bias; and
  • giving researchers and enforcement agencies better data to study and monitor valuation bias.

While the Task Force’s activity is ongoing, federal agencies in the past few weeks have announced a series of steps that are in line with the PAVE goal of addressing real property appraisal bias.

FHA: Draft Mortgagee Letter on Reconsiderations of Value and Appraisal Review

On January 3, 2023, the Federal Housing Administration (“FHA”) published for public comment a draft mortgagee letter, Borrower Request for Review of Appraisal Results, that would permit a second appraisal to be ordered if a Direct Endorsement underwriter determines that an original appraisal contains a material deficiency.  The letter would expressly identify as a material deficiency – one that would directly impact value and marketability of the underlying property – either indications of unlawful bias in the appraisal or of a violation of applicable federal, state, or local fair housing and non-discrimination laws.

Further, the draft mortgagee letter would require the underwriter in a transaction involving an FHA-insured loan to “review the appraisal and determine that it is complete, accurate, and provides a credible analysis of the marketability and value of the Property.”  Among other criteria, this would require the underwriter to make a determination of whether the appraisal is materially deficient – that is, whether the appraisal contains indications of unlawful bias or of a violation of applicable fair housing and non-discrimination laws.  Providing a “credible analysis” exceeds the scope of a quality control review.  If included in a finalized mortgagee letter, it would require lenders to determine whether underwriters must be state-licensed or -certified appraisers.

The draft mortgagee letter also sets forth standards for the submission and consideration of a borrower’s request for a review of appraisal results, including the submission of a reconsideration of value request to the appraiser.

VA: Enhanced Oversight Procedures to Combat Appraisal Bias

On January 18, the Department of Veterans Affairs (“VA”) issued Circular 26-23-05, detailing the enhanced oversight procedures that the VA has adopted “to identify discriminatory bias in home loan appraisals and act against participants who illegally discriminate based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation), age, familial status, or disability.”

In the Circular, the VA indicated that it will review all appraisal reports submitted in connection with VA-guaranteed home loans to identify any potential discriminatory bias.  The VA will: (a) conduct an escalated review of any suspected incidents of bias; and (b) remove from its panel of approved appraisers any individual who is confirmed to have provided a biased appraisal as the result of such a review.

The VA also reminded panel appraisers that in submitting a Fannie Mae Form 1004 (Uniform Residential Appraisal Report), they certify that they have not based the opinion communicated in an appraisal report on discriminatory factors (e.g., the race) of either the property applicants or the residents of the area in which the property is located.

Appraisal Foundation: Proposed Revision of Appraisal Standards

In mid-December, the Appraisal Standards Board (“ASB”) of the Appraisal Foundation released its fourth exposure draft of proposed changes to the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (“USPAP”), the operational standards that govern real property appraisal practice.

In response to comments received in response to the last draft, the ASB proposes to add to the USPAP Ethics Rule a section expressly discussing non-discrimination.  The proposed section would prohibit appraisers from engaging in both unethical discrimination and illegal discrimination, and would provide guidance as to the type of conduct constituting each form.

Unethical Discrimination:

First, the ASB proposes to include an express statement that an appraiser must not engage in unethical discrimination.  First, that prohibition would preclude an appraiser from developing and/or reporting an opinion or value that is based, in whole or in part, on the actual or perceived protected characteristics of any person.

Second, the rule would prohibit an appraiser from performing an assignment with bias with respect to the actual or perceived protected characteristics of any person – meaning that the appraiser may not engage in any discriminatory conduct (regardless of whether it arises in the course of developing and/or reporting an opinion of value). For purposes of this prohibition, the rule would utilize the USPAP definition of bias: “a preference or inclination that precludes an appraiser’s impartiality, independence, or objectivity in an assignment.”

The rule would make a limited exception for activity that qualifies with “limited permissive language,” permitting an appraiser to use or rely upon a protected characteristic in an assignment only where:

  • laws and regulations expressly permit or otherwise allow the consideration of a protected characteristic;
  • use of or reliance on that characteristic is essential to the assignment and necessary for credible assignment results; and
  • consideration of the characteristic is not based upon bias, prejudice, or stereotype.

The exposure draft provides as an example of activity that might qualify for the exception the completion of an appraisal review in order to determine whether the initial appraisal was discriminatory.

The ASB proposal makes clear that because “an appraiser’s ethical duties are broader than the law’s prohibitions,” an appraiser may commit unethical discrimination without violating any applicable law; however, an act that “constitutes illegal discrimination … will also constitute unethical discrimination.”

Illegal Discrimination:

Complementing the prohibitions discussed above, the ASB proposes to include an express statement that an appraiser must not engage in illegal discrimination – conduct that violates the minimum standards of anti-discrimination set forth in the Fair Housing Act (“FHA”), the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (“ECOA”), and Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 (“Section 1981”).  The rule would impose on appraisers a duty to understand and comply with such laws as they apply to the appraiser and the appraiser’s assignments, including the concepts of disparate treatment and disparate impact.  Further, the rule would prohibit an appraiser from using or relying on a non-protected characteristic as a pretext to conceal the use of or reliance upon protected characteristics when performing an assignment.

Further Guidance:

 The exposure draft indicates that the ASB would follow the adoption of the new non-discrimination section of the ethics rule with detailed guidance on the scope of these prohibitions, including:

  • Background on federal, state, and local anti-discrimination laws;
  • Guidance on the application of FHA, ECOA, and Section 1981 to appraisals of residential real property;
  • Explanation of the disparate treatment and disparate impact theories of discrimination, including examples relating to appraisal practice;
  • Guidance on neighborhood discrimination in real property appraisals; and
  • Clarification on acceptable uses of protected characteristics, in connection with the “limited permissive language” exception for the prohibition against unethical discrimination.

OMB: AVM Rule on Regulatory Agenda

 Automated valuation models  (“AVMs”) are considered a useful tool to help mitigate appraisal discrimination.  On January 4, the Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) released its Fall 2022 Regulatory Agenda.  Among other topics, OMB indicated that an interagency proposed rule addressing quality control standards for AVMs is expected in March 2023. The Dodd-Frank Act’s amendments to the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989 (“FIRREA”) require the federal banking regulatory agencies to undertake this rulemaking.

 ASC: Hearing on Appraisal Bias

 On January 24, the Appraisal Subcommittee (“ASC”) of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council held a hearing on appraisal bias.  Of note, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra ended the hearing by articulating the objective that the “lodestar” of appraisals is an appraisal that neither too high nor too low, but rather is accurate.    Director Chopra then questioned the regulatory structure governing appraisals, calling it “byzantine.”  His remarks focused on the funding mechanism between the Appraisal Institute and the Appraisal Foundation, implying that there may be a conflict of interest.

To understand Director Chopra’s comment requires knowledge of the current regulatory framework, which Title XI of FIRREA established in 1989.   It includes three principal parties: the ASC, the Appraisal Foundation, and the Appraisal Institute:

  • The ASC is a federal agency with oversight responsibility of the state appraisal regulatory structure for real property appraisers as well as to monitor activities of the Appraisal Foundation.
  • The Appraisal Foundation is a private non-profit educational organization. Through the ASB and the Appraiser Qualifications Board (“AQB”), the Appraisal Foundation sets the ethical and performance standards of appraisers in the USPAP.  The AQB establishes the minimum education, experience, and examination requirements for real property appraisers, which are then enforced by state regulatory agencies.  The Appraisal Foundation is funded through sales of publications and services, as well as by its sponsoring organizations.
  • The Appraisal Institute is a private professional organization of appraisal professionals, and is one of the sponsoring organizations of the Appraisal Foundation.

Takeaway

 Viewed through the lens of the overall PAVE Task Force efforts, actions by the FHA and the VA show early and concrete action to address residential appraisal bias.  Because they implicate government insurance and guarantee programs, the focus is particularly important for lenders and appraisers to take heed of – such that documentation submitted to the agencies is accurate.

Appraisers should also take note of the updated USPAP exposure draft as it moves toward final adoption, so that they are aware of their responsibilities with respect to avoiding bias in appraisal reports. Finally, with regulators scrutinizing the appraisal framework – as seen in the OMB and ASC announcements – more significant changes are expected.

District Court Dismisses CFPB’s Redlining Case Against Townstone Financial

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A&B ABstract:

On Friday, in the CFPB v. Townstone Financial fair lending case, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois dismissed with prejudice the complaint filed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), holding that the plain language of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) does not prohibit discrimination against prospective applicants.

Complaint

 The complaint, filed by the CFPB in July 2020, alleged that Townstone Financial, Inc., a nonbank retail-mortgage creditor and broker based in Chicago, engaged in discriminatory acts or practices in violation of ECOA, including: (1) making statements during its weekly radio shows and podcasts through which it marketed its services, that discouraged prospective African-American applicants from applying for mortgage loans; (2) discouraging prospective applicants living in African-American neighborhoods from applying for mortgage loans; and (3) discouraged prospective applicants living in other areas from applying for mortgage loans for properties located in African-American neighborhoods.

Court Opinion

The court, in its opinion, summarized the allegations as follows: “The CFPB alleges that Townstone’s acts and practices would discourage African-American prospective applicants, as well as prospective applicants in majority- and high-African-American neighborhoods in the Chicago MSA from seeking credit.” To determine whether the CFPB’s allegation of discrimination against “prospective applicants” was permissible under ECOA, the court applied the framework set forth in Chevron, U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837 (1984).

The court found, upon applying the first step of the Chevron analysis, that “Congress has directly and unambiguously spoken on the issue at hand and [that ECOA] only prohibits discrimination against applicants” (emphasis added). In granting Townstone’s motion to dismiss, the court reasoned that the plain text of the ECOA applies to “applicants,” which the ECOA “clearly and unambiguously defines as a person who applies to a creditor for credit” – and not to “prospective applicants.” Given this, the court was not required to move on to the second step of the Chevron analysis and consider the CFPB’s interpretation of the statute. Accordingly, the CFPB’s claim under ECOA was dismissed with prejudice, as “the CFPB cannot amend its pleading in a way that would change the language of the ECOA.”

Notably, the fact that the anti-discouragement provision of Regulation B refers to “prospective applicants” was not sufficient to convince the court. Further, because the court found that ECOA unambiguously applies only to “applicants,” the court did not analyze whether the ECOA’s prohibition on “discrimination” encompasses “discouragement.” The court likewise did not reach Townstone’s argument that the CFPB is attempting to create affirmative obligations with respect to marketing and the hiring of loan officers, nor its arguments under the First and Fifth Amendments.

Takeaway

Ultimately, the court’s dismissal of the CFPB’s case against Townstone casts significant doubt on the agency’s ECOA discouragement theory and its approach to fair lending enforcement, particularly the agency’s redlining investigations. We expect the CFPB to appeal the court’s order, though it is possible that existing investigations based on allegations of discouragement may experience a temporary slowdown in the interim.

CFPB Issues Proposed Rule to Establish Public Registry of Supervised Nonbank Form Contract Provisions that Waive or Limit Consumers’ Legal Protections

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A&B ABstract:

On January 11, 2023, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (the “CFPB” or “Bureau”) announced a proposed rule to establish a public registry and require  nonbanks supervised by the agency to register their use of certain terms and conditions contained in “take it or leave it” form contracts for consumer financial products or services that “attempt to waive consumers’ legal protections,” “limit how consumers enforce their rights,” or “restrict consumers’ ability to file complaints or post reviews” (the “Proposed Rule”).  The purpose of Proposed Rule’s registration system is to allow the CFPB to prioritize oversight of nonbanks that use the covered terms and conditions based on the agency’s perception these provisions pose risks for consumers.

The CFPB seeks public comment on the practical utility of collecting and publishing this information as well as ways to minimize the burden of the information collection on respondents. The comment period closes on April 3, 2023.

The Proposed Rule

The Proposed Rule would require annual registration by most nonbanks subject to the CFPB’s jurisdiction, with limited exceptions. “Specifically, a “supervised nonbank” would be defined to mean a nonbank covered person that is subject to supervision and examination by the Bureau, except to the extent that such person engages in conduct or functions that are excluded from the Bureau’s supervisory authority pursuant to 12 U.S.C. 5517 or 5519.  A “supervised nonbank” would include any nonbank covered person that (1) offers or provides a residential mortgage-related product or service, any private educational consumer loan, or any consumer payday loan, (2) is a larger participant engaged in consumer reporting, consumer debt collection, student loan servicing, international money transfers, and auto financing, or (3) is subject to a CFPB order issued pursuant to 12 U.S.C. 5514(a)(1)(C).

Those excluded from the scope of the Proposed Rule would include, among others, persons subject to CFPB supervision and examination solely in the capacity of a service provider; natural persons; persons with less than $1 million in annual receipts resulting from offering or providing all consumer financial products and services as relevant to the activities noted in (1) through (3) above.  Also exempt from the rule would be a person that has not, together with its affiliates, engaged in more than de minimis use of covered terms and conditions (i.e., fewer than 1,000 times in the previous calendar year) and a person that used covered terms or conditions in covered form contracts in the previous calendar year solely by entering into contracts for residential mortgages on a form made publicly available on the Internet required for insurance or guarantee by a Federal agency or purchase by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, or Ginnie Mae.

Under the Proposed Rule, a “covered term or condition” would be subject to the rule’s reporting requirements. A “covered term or condition” would be defined as “any clause, term, or condition that expressly purports to establish a covered limitation on consumer legal protections applicable to the offering or provision of any consumer financial product or service.” In turn, “covered limitation on consumer legal protections” would be defined to mean any covered term or condition in a covered form contract:

  • Precluding the consumer from bringing a legal action after a certain period of time;
  • Specifying a forum or venue where a consumer must bring a legal action in court;
  • Limiting the ability of the consumer to file a legal action seeking relief for other consumers or to seek to participate in a legal action filed by others;
  • Limiting liability to the consumer in a legal action including by capping the amount of recovery or type of remedy;
  • Waiving a cause of legal action by the consumer, including by stating a person is not responsible to the consumer for a harm or violation of law;
  • Limiting the ability of the consumer to make any written, oral, or pictorial review, assessment, complaint, or other similar analysis or statement concerning the offering or provision of consumer financial products or services by the supervised registrant;
  • Waiving, whether by extinguishing or causing the consumer to relinquish or agree not to assert, any other identified consumer legal protection, including any specified right, defense, or protection afforded to the consumer under Constitutional law, a statute or regulation, or common law; or
  • Requiring that a consumer bring any type of legal action in arbitration.

In the Proposed Rule, the CFPB acknowledges that there may be overlap in the types of covered terms and conditions, so some contract provisions may fall into more than one category.  The Proposed Rule currently proposes to limit the collection of terms and conditions that expressly attempt to establish the covered limitation.  Any contract containing a covered term would be considered a “form contract” provided it was (1) included in the original contract draft presented to the consumer, (2) was not negotiated between the parties, (3) is intended for repeated use in transactions between the company and consumers and contains a covered term or condition.

Supervised nonbanks covered by the Proposed Rule would be required to collect and submit this information through the CFPB’s registration system.  Under the Proposed Rule, the registry of terms and conditions would be publicly available, rather than limited to government regulators or CFPB staff.  The CFPB supports the public availably of this data on the grounds that it will lead to more informed consumers and provide other regulators the opportunity to identify covered terms and conditions that are explicitly prohibited by the laws they enforce or supervise.  The proposed format for the registry is similar to another recent CFPB proposed rule which proposes to establish a public registry of regulatory actions involving certain nonbanks subject to CFPB supervision. We previously discussed this proposed rule in another blog post.

CFPB’s Request for Comment on the Proposed Rule

The CFPB is seeking comment on a range of issues related to the Proposed Rule, including:

  • The prevalence of the covered terms and conditions;
  • Potential impacts of collecting and publishing this information;
  • Reasons why the information should not be publicly disclosed;
  • The burden of collecting and filing these provisions;
  • The use of form contracts purchased from third parties; and
  • Other entities that may be affected by the proposed rule.

The period for public comment ends on April 3, 2023.

Is the establishment of a Public Registry likely?

 The CFPB currently has thirty-seven (37) rules that have been proposed but not implemented, of which only five of were proposed since the start of the Biden Administration.  Most notably, neither the CFPB’s proposed rule for small business lending data collection from September 1, 2021 or its proposed rule for credit card late fees and late payments from June 22, 2022 have been finalized.  Since the substance of this rule is limited to the collection and publication of contract terms, rather than the prohibition of any behavior, enactment might be more likely.  The recent Fifth Circuit decision in Community Financial Services found the CFPB’s funding structure unconstitutional and vacated the agency’s Payday Lending Rule on those grounds.  Accordingly, any rule promulgated by the CFPB would likely be susceptible to legal challenges.

Takeaway

The Bureau’s focus on seeking public disclosure of covered terms and conditions reflects a continued focus on the content of form contracts used in connection with consumer finance products and services of nonbanks.  The public nature of the registry could lead to increased scrutiny of contract provisions from the Bureau, other regulators, and the public, increasing reputational risk to covered entities as well as the likelihood of heightened enforcement activity by Federal and State regulators. Accordingly, entities that would be subject to the Proposed Rule’s requirements should carefully review the Proposed Rule and consider commenting thereon.