Enforcement

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s new enforcement chief abruptly resigned Wednesday, citing a complication in a case from her prior legal career, an early and significant setback in Chairman Gary Gensler’s tenure running the Wall Street regulator.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau disputes a district court ruling that misconduct claims against the company were already covered by a previous settlement.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's revocation of a Trump-era policy on abusive practices could mean higher fines and penalties for violators. But it still isn't clear what makes a practice abusive.

A recent statement by acting Director Dave Uejio is the clearest signal that the agency plans to revive strong underwriting standards that the Trump administration eliminated.

The agency's new leadership, which has already unwound numerous actions from the prior administration, said the January 2020 guidance implementing criteria for punishing firms that mistreat customers was “inconsistent with the bureau’s duty to enforce Congress’s standard.”

Rohit Chopra, President Biden's pick to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, told a Senate panel he would do more to protect veterans from foreclosure, empower consumers to dispute data on their credit records and crack down on student loan servicers that aren't helping troubled borrowers.

Rohit Chopra, President Biden’s nominee to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, has not minced words in calling out private companies for wrongdoing. He could get a grilling from Banking Committee Republicans and some opposition on the Senate floor.

The agency is recruiting more attorneys and shuffling personnel under new Democratic leadership as it prepares to toughen oversight of the financial services industry.

Dave Uejio, acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, promised to protect veterans from predatory loans and to crack down on companies that improperly garnish stimulus checks or mistreat struggling borrowers.

Now that Democrats have won control of the Senate following the Georgia runoffs, experts say tax increases, progressive regulators and stricter congressional oversight await. Still, there could be some positives for banks, too.

The agency said Omni Financial in Las Vegas illegally required service members to designate a portion of their paychecks to repay loans, depriving of them of other payment options.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has taken a hands-off approach to servicers during the pandemic. But with forbearance plans set to expire and President-elect Biden likely to appoint new CFPB leadership, companies lacking aggressive plans to help borrowers could face tougher enforcement.

The three companies agreed to pay a total of $74 million in remediation.

The agency’s consolidation of supervision and enforcement policy into one office could compromise the independence of those deciding when to investigate alleged wrongdoing by banks and others, critics of the move say.

Customers suffered when they were placed in mortgage relief plans without their consent, the Massachusetts senator says. She urged the Federal Reserve to take the blunder into account as it weighs when to lift other sanctions against the bank.

A proposal to expand consumer protections in the state was added to a budget bill after being dropped in June. Financial institutions say the measure conflicts with federal law and are working behind the scenes to stop it.

The court struck down a 2015 update to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, which permitted robocalls to cellphones for government-related debt collection.

The templates are meant to make it easier to obtain agency approval for small-dollar loan products and to accommodate mortgage servicers that want to provide online loss mitigation options.

Five Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee sent a letter to Director Kathy Kraninger calling the agency's response to COVID-19 “tepid and ineffectual at best.”

The agency said lenders should avoid reporting delinquent payments to credit bureaus for consumers who have sought payment relief due to the pandemic.