Cordray Outlines 2017 Supervision, Enforcement Priorities for Mortgage Lending

On Tuesday, October 25, 2016, CFPB Director Richard Cordray delivered remarks to the Mortgage Bankers Association in which he highlighted the Bureau's work in helping the housing economy to recover, while emphasizing to the industry more regulation and oversight remain to come.

Cordray revealed three priority areas for enforcement and supervision in the next year:

  • Consumer complaints | Cordray emphasized the importance lenders should place on indicators of how they are serving customers, admonishing lenders to study not only their own internal complaint system, but use the CFPB's complaint database to learn how they can avoid mistakes other lenders are making.  He remarked the Bureau considered monitoring and addressing complaints part of "a basic component" of any compliance effort.
  • Redlining | While "we could all wish this was a historic injustice of the past," Cordray said, the Bureau has identified this as a target for its supervisory work, and has teamed up with the U.S. Department of Justice to bring major enforcement actions against institutions found to be discriminatory in their lending.
  • RESPA violations | The Bureau is not backing down in its Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) enforcement in light of the recent PHH ruling, Director Cordray said.  He noted the case "is not final at this point" and the agency "respectfully disagrees" with the finding.  The CFPB will continue to adhere to its 2015 bulletin regarding marketing servicing agreements, he said.