View from CBA - May 29, 2015

TRID: 295 Members of Congress Join Our Call
A bipartisan, bicameral group of legislators (dozens of Democrats, including Maxine Waters of California, a long-standing supporter of the CFPB) sent letters to CFPB Director Richard Cordray late last week urging him to offer a hold-harmless period for those making a good faith effort to comply with the CFPB’s TILA/RESPA Integrated Disclosures (TRID) regulation. For those of you keeping track at home, the Congressional Democrats and Republicans are joining consumers and banks involved in the mortgage finance process in asking Director Cordray for the temporary deferment period. We hope the Director will finally permit some flexibility and work with us to ensure consumers do not suffer the consequences of an arbitrary deadline set in Washington. View the Senate letter here, and the House letter here.
 
Compliments are a Good Thing, Right?
The most disappointing thing to come out of the CFPB continues to be the complaint portal—imagine if banks posted unverified information about the Bureau. A long-standing criticism of the portal is that it is Yelp, but without the compliments. In an attempt to throw a bone to industry, the CFPB is considering a consumer compliments portal, too. While everyone likes to receive compliments, CBA still has serious concerns with releasing consumer information in any form – complaints, compliments, or otherwise. In a letter to the Bureau this week, CBA argued a better use of the CFPB’s resources would be to use the Bureau’s “Tell Your Story” website to highlight bank programs promoting financial literacy, small business creation, money management, credit availability, and economic inclusion. Ultimately, however, let’s not lose sight of the bigger picture here. The best way the CFPB can help consumers is to follow other government agencies' lead in monitoring complaints—by demonstrating trends, allowing for an appeals process, and normalizing its data.
 
National Review: Sen. Warren Bought Foreclosed Homes to Make Quick Profit
In case you missed it, news broke this week about Senator Warren’s past affinity to house flipping on a number of foreclosed homes. National Review’s Jillian Kay Melchior and Eliana Johnson broke the story.
 
Former CBA Board Chair on Critical Pieces of Branch Transformation
The workforce of the retail bank branch continues to be the single most critical piece of the branch transformation puzzle. Former CBA Board Chair and President of C.G. Kirby Partners, LLC Gene Kirby along with Jim DeLapa, CEO of Kiran Analytics, will host a webinar on Wednesday, June 3, 2015 at 2 p.m. EDT to explain how leading banks are optimizing their workforce to meet consumers’ needs.
 
Team CBA Visits the Midwest
Steve Zeisel and Liz Terry visited with CBA members from MainSource, U.S. Bank, and Fifth Third last week to discuss TRID and expected legislation on the Hill. Many thanks to Archie Brown, President and Chief Executive Officer at MainSource—a longtime supporter of CBA Advanced Education—for taking the time to meet with us. We also had the opportunity to catch up with our current CBA Auto Committee Vice Chair, Tom Wirth, President, Indirect Lending Group at U.S. Bank, to discuss industry concerns. Over at Fifth Third, we met with committee members and other Fifth Third bankers to cover an expansive view of today’s regulatory environment. Thank you to Mark Erhardt, Jason Kammer, Patricia Hartsfield-Davis, Nancy Elkus, Jim Cross, Ben Mendelsohn, JoAnne Daniels, Lee Ferris, and Bill Fisher for meeting with us.
 
Thinking of Our Texas Member Banks
As the flood waters start to recede and clean up begins, our thoughts and prayers are with all our Texas member banks.
 
What We're Reading:
How student debt became a presidential campaign issue - The Washington Post
Business Lending by U.S. Banks on the Rise – WSJ
Identity Thieves Got Private Data for 104,000 U.S. Taxpayers – American Banker
 

Lagniappe
Dave Cushing, First Vice President of Manager Product Strategy and Analytics at First Niagara Bank is joining CBA's Auto Finance Committee.