The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau today issued a “Supervisory Highlights” report focusing on recent examiner observations of several financial products. Among other things, examiners flagged issues related to consumer reporting, debt collection and payday lending.
Examiners noted several issues related to consumer reporting, including failure by consumer reporting companies to comply with accuracy procedures; failing to place security freezes on consumer’s reports; and failing to update and correct consumer information. The bureau also flagged issues related to debt collection, such as companies making prohibited calls to a consumer’s workplace, failure to cease communication on written request and deceptive means of collection.
The payday lending issues the bureau found include: misrepresenting an intent to sue, misrepresenting that no credit check would be conducted and offering deceptive repayment options for those eligible for no-cost repayment plans.
Additionally, the bureau flagged one instance of redlining, citing HMDA data from the lender as well as direct mail marketing campaigns “that featured models, all of whom appeared to be non-Hispanic white,” and the inclusion of “headshots of its mortgage professionals in its open house marketing materials” that “showed only professionals who appeared to be non-Hispanic white.” The bureau also found that the lender’s office locations were nearly all concentrated in majority non-Hispanic neighborhoods, and said that examiners “determined that the lender employed mostly non-Hispanic white mortgage loan officers and identified emails among mortgage loan officers containing racist and derogatory content.”