Download This Article The recent settlement between Washington Federal Bank and the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau of reporting violations under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) demonstrates that mortgage lenders should maintain a high level of focus on their compliance management system. In this article, we compare the bank’s earliest and most recent 2017 HMDA submissions to uncover the likely sources of [...]
Download This Article In a recent Complaint filed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) against Townstone Financial, Inc. (Townstone), the CFPB alleges that Townstone violated Fair Lending laws by redlining certain geographic areas. The Bureau also asserts that Townstone engaged in practices that discouraged, on the basis of race, potential applicants living in or [...]
Note: This is a cross-post from Person to Person Quality, a division of ADI Consulting. Download This Article The era of COVID-19 has created unprecedented short-term disruption in the lives of millions of individuals and families. Record-high unemployment, reduced work hours, and rising costs have affected millions of people. For many households, these events create [...]
Lending institutions play a unique and vital role in helping consumers and businesses recover from heavy economic hardships during the COVID-19 pandemic. Businesses are affected by the pandemic in differing ways: for some it means a slight reprieve in activity and possible opportunity to implement system improvements. For lenders, however, it often necessitates rapidly processing [...]
The current crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically changed American society. The tragic loss of life and unparalleled social and economic disruption make it difficult to imagine any community and industry that will not face long-term effects. More than a decade removed from the housing crisis and the resulting Great Recession, banks once [...]
Banking regulators are temporarily reducing their examination schedules. At first glance, this reduction may seem to indicate that it is appropriate to ditch your compliance hat until the current quarantine period is behind us. Hold on to that hat though – while the examination schedule is delayed, regulatory requirements continue, and this new environment [...]
On March 27, President Trump signed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) to provide emergency assistance for those affected by the coronavirus pandemic. As part of the CARES Act, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) received funding and authority to assist small businesses nationwide that have been adversely impacted by the COVID-19 emergency. In its Interim Final Rule (the Rule), the SBA sets out [...]
In May 2018, the Department of Justice (DOJ) reached a settlement with KleinBank regarding a Redlining-related lawsuit filed by the DOJ against the bank in January 2017. In the lawsuit, the DOJ alleged the bank “engaged in unlawful redlining of majority-minority neighborhoods in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area” from 2010 through 2015. The DOJ found [...]
Download This Article While banks have operated under the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) for 40 years, the range of CRA Services they provide to meet the Service Test has grown. Over this period, banks have responded in many creative and impactful ways to meet the needs of their communities, particularly in services. The Service Test [...]
Banks have operated under the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) for 31 years. The CRA requires banks to help meet the needs of low- and moderate-income (LMI) persons and distressed geographies through lending, investment, and service. Over this period, banks have responded in many creative and impactful ways to the needs of their communities, particularly in [...]
