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On October 12, 2016, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) provided updated versions of the Know Before You Owe mortgage disclosure rule Small Entity Compliance Guide (“SECG”) and the Guide to Loan Estimate and Closing Disclosure Forms (“GTF”). The updates represent the fourth revisions to the Guides, which were originally published in April, 2014. According to the CFPB, the updated Guides incorporate guidance from existing webinars to add clarity on various topics. The updated Guides do not reflect the proposed amendments published by the CFPB on July 29, 2016, for which the public comment period expired on October 18th. Below are some of the highlights contained in the updated Guides:

In the September 2, 2016 issue of the Federal Register (81 FR 60609) (click here), the United States Department of the Treasury (“Department”) announced the implementation of final regulations, effective September 2, 2016, defining terms in the Internal Revenue Code that describe the marital status of taxpayers for federal tax purposes. These regulations reflect the United States Supreme Court’s holdings in Obergefell v. Hodges, 135 S. Ct. 2584 (2015) (click here) and United States v. Windsor, 133 S. Ct. 2675 (2013) (click here) as well as the Department’s Revenue Ruling 2013-17 (click here). The language of these definitions is gender neutral and designed to apply equally to same-sex and opposite-sex couples. The Department’s objective was to clarify, for federal tax purposes, the federal law espoused in Obergefell and Windsor.

In today’s Federal Register (81 FR 54318, click here) the CFPB published the proposed amendments to the integrated mortgage disclosure rules that became effective on October 3, 2015 (TRID Rule), which would: • Memorialize past informal guidance. Memorialize certain past informal guidance issued through webinar, compliance guide, or otherwise. • Create tolerances for the total of payments. Establish express tolerances for the total of payments to parallel the existing provisions regarding the tolerances for accuracy in calculating the finance charge and disclosures affected by the finance charge.

On July 29, 2016, the CFPB published proposed amendments to the TRID Rules on its website and on August 15, 2016, the CFPB also published the proposed amendments in the Federal Register (81 FR 54318). For ease of reference, the proposed amendments along with the existing text deleted and the existing text not deleted are reproduced below in the following manner: proposed amendments;[existing text deleted]; and, existing text not deleted.

In the July 11, 2016, issue of the Federal Register (81 FR 44801, click here) the CFPB published proposed amendments to Regulation P (12 CFR part 1016), which implements the privacy notice provisions of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA). The GLBA and Regulation P mandate that financial institutions provide their customers with annual notices regarding the institutions’ privacy policies. Regulation P sets forth requirements for how financial institutions must deliver these annual privacy notices. In certain circumstances, Regulation P permits financial institutions to use an alternative delivery method to provide annual notices. This method requires, among other things, that the annual notice be posted on a financial institution’s Web site.

In the case of Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins, 136 S.Ct. 1540 (May, 2016), (click here), the Supreme Court of the United States vacated a decision by the United States Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and sent the case back to the Ninth Circuit for reconsideration. The issue was whether Robins had “standing” under Article III of the Constitution to file a private lawsuit for violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (the “FCRA”). If a plaintiff does not have standing, a federal court does not have jurisdiction to hear the case and must dismiss the lawsuit. The Court held that the Ninth Circuit had failed to fully analyze every element that must be met in order for a plaintiff to have Article III standing

In the May 24, 2016, issue of the Federal Register (81 FR 32830, click here), the CFPB published a proposed rule to govern pre-dispute arbitrations agreements in consumer finance transactions that will be confided in new 12 CFR part 1040 when made final. First, the proposed rule would prohibit covered providers of certain consumer financial products and services from using an agreement with a consumer that provides for arbitration of any future dispute between the parties to bar the consumer from filing or participating in a class action with respect to the covered consumer financial product or service. Second, the proposal would require a covered provider that is involved in arbitration pursuant to a pre-dispute arbitration agreement to submit specified arbitral records to the CFPB. The CFPB is also proposing to adopt official interpretations to the proposed rule. The text of the proposed rule and official interpretations are found on pages 32924 through 32929 of the above cited Federal Register.