The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Wednesday provided more details on how it will help regulators and lenders comply with the bureau’s new mortgage regulations.
The effort will address rules finalized last month defining qualified mortgages, a consumer’s ability to repay, and new rules for mortgage servicers that go into effect in January 2014.
The initiatives were announced by CFPB Director Richard Cordray during a Feb. 5 webinar sponsored by the NCUA.
First, the CFPB will coordinate with other regulators to ensure they have a shared understanding of the new rules. Cordray said during the webinar that the bureau will work with the NCUA to prepare training materials for NCUA examiners. The NCUA is charged with ensuring CFPB compliance for all federally insured credit unions except those with more than $10 billion in assets, which will be examined by the CFPB.
The CFPB also said it will publish easy-to-understand summaries of the regulations in both written and video form. The guides, which the bureau said will be made available in the spring, are designed to help smaller businesses with limited compliance staff.
Guidance updates will also be issued over the next year, which will allow the CFPB to address important questions raised by industry, consumer groups, or other agencies. Priority for these updates will be given to issues that are important to a large number of providers or consumers, and that critically affect mortgage companies’ implementation decisions. The CFPB said it expects to issue the first one in the spring and issue additional updates, as needed.
Readiness guides, which the CFPB said will be available this summer, will provide originators and servicers with compliance check lists. The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council will also publish exam procedures later this year, which lenders can use to conduct compliance self-assessments and internal reviews.
Finally, the CFPB said it will launch a consumer education campaign that will inform them about the rules.
