CURRENT Newsletter | 7 January 2022
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Headlines
- Collections and Bankruptcy Virtual Conference Coming Jan. 11, 12
- CUNA Mutual Group’s ULEND Academy Set for Feb. 8-10
- League Comments on CFPB's Small Biz Data Collection Proposal
- Your Safe Deposit Service: Top 50 Most-Important Operating Procedures
Advocacy / Governmental Affairs
- State Supreme Court Finalizes Legislative Districts
- CUNA GAC Attendees Must Verify Vaccine Status Prior to Attendance
Compliance / Regulatory Affairs
- CFPB: HMDA Filing Period Has Begun
- Jan. 24 Deadline to Submit Comments on NCUA’s Draft Strategic Plan
- MLA Database Update
- CFPB Issued Annual Adjustment to Maximum Fee Credit Bureaus May Charge Consumers for File Disclosure
- As SOFR Gains Favor, Other Benchmark Rates Face Uncertain Future
- Does CFPB Rebuke of Credit Bureaus Portend Tougher Rules?
- Credit Union Regulator Gives Preliminary Go-Ahead on Crypto Partnerships
- NCUA Issues Letter on Voluntary Credit Union Diversity Self-Assessment
- New Ginnie Mae Director Should Examine Treatment of CUs
Financial Services / Economy
- Truliant FCU Issues $50M Secondary Capital in 1st Rated Debt for CU
- Latest Meeting Minutes Indicate Fed May Move Faster Than Expected to Raise Rates
News From Credit Unions
Headlines
Collections and Bankruptcy Virtual Conference Coming Jan. 11, 12
Join credit union attorney and collections consultant, David Reed, for an exciting virtual training event as he highlights the latest techniques, tips and trends to maximize your collections function in the “new world order.” The event includes sample checklists and procedures and ample time to answer your questions.
Among the topics covered: maximizing the virtual workflow, working with troubled borrowers, workout options, rescue resources, bankruptcy rules, COVID and the bankruptcy process and maximizing your recovery opportunities.
You can’t afford to miss this training Jan. 11 and 12 … Register here through the Kentucky Credit Union League.
CUNA Mutual Group’s ULEND Academy Set for Feb. 8-10
Your League is proud to offer CUNA Mutual Group’s popular ULEND Academy Feb. 8-10 as a virtual learning experience for credit union lenders looking for real-world solutions to today’s toughest lending challenges.
Note: Registration closes Jan. 21 and only 40 registration slots for the five participating Leagues are available, so act quickly.
The curriculum guides lenders from foundational to advanced skill levels in all lending communication channels and across all stages of the loan process - origination, underwriting, and closing - with cross-selling, consultation, and compliance woven throughout. ULEND Academy is set up as a virtual learning workshop within three-hour daily sessions over the course of three days, providing participants skills and concepts they can use immediately in interactions with members.
League Comments on CFPB's Small Biz Data Collection Proposal
Your League this week submitted comments on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's proposed data collection under Section 1071 of Dodd-Frank, arguing the proposal represents an incredibly burdensome new regulation for community lenders, like credit unions.
"While we support this intent, the proposal is quite simply overly broad and will be incredibly burdensome,” notes our letter.
Learn more
Related: Trades Urge Caution on Business Lending Rule
Your Safe Deposit Service: Top 50 Most-Important Operating Procedures
The safe deposit operation is a unique, fast-changing service in the financial industry. It is the only product or service in which your staff members do not know the value of a consumer's assets. As a result, every vault transaction can lead to considerable liability. Effective procedures and daily sound practices can counteract and minimize this risk.
Our Feb. 16 virtual seminar covers the "nuts and bolts" and the recommended day-to-day operating procedures for your institution.
Learn more | Register here through the Mississippi Credit Union Association.
In addition, you will receive information about many current safe deposit lawsuits and other nationwide horror stories.
Advocacy / Governmental Affairs
State Supreme Court Finalizes Legislative Districts
The Supreme Court of Virginia announced last week that it had unanimously approved legislative maps that will determine districts for the Virginia General Assembly and U.S. of Representatives.
CUNA GAC Attendees Must Verify Vaccine Status Prior to Attendance
Washington, D.C. recently communicated mask and vaccine requirements for indoor venues such as the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, hotels, and restaurants, which is host to CUNA’s Governmental Affairs Conference. Anyone ages 12+ must be fully vaccinated by Feb. 15, 2022.
Conference attendees will be required to follow all local and federal guidelines that are in place at the time of our conference.
Related: More COVID-19 Legal Developments
Related: CDC’s Latest Guidance On Isolation, Quarantine
Related: CDC Cuts Isolation Time Recommended for People with Asymptomatic Coronavirus Infections
Compliance / Regulatory Affairs
CFPB: HMDA Filing Period Has Begun
The CFPB has notified email update subscribers that the filing period for HMDA data collected in 2021 opened on Jan. 1, 2022.
Access the HMDA Platform to begin the filing process for data collected in 2021 at https://ffiec.cfpb.gov/filing.
Jan. 24 Deadline to Submit Comments on NCUA’s Draft Strategic Plan
Comments on the draft of the National Credit Union Administration’s Strategic Plan are due on or before Jan. 24.
MLA Database Update
The Department of Defense is updating the Military Lending Act (MLA) Database, adding cadets and midshipmen attending Military Service Academies of the Armed Forces, who are covered borrowers under the MLA. This change to the database will be effective Feb. 1, 2022.
CFPB Issued Annual Adjustment to Maximum Fee Credit Bureaus May Charge Consumers for File Disclosure
Additional updates have been made to CU PolicyPro related to the CFPB’s recently issued annual adjustment to the maximum amount credit bureaus may charge consumers for making a file disclosure to a consumer under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA or Regulation V).
As SOFR Gains Favor, Other Benchmark Rates Face Uncertain Future
With the lights almost out on the scandal-plagued Libor interest rate, a successor touted by regulators has quickly become the leading benchmark for business loans, outdueling two alternatives that some FIs prefer.
Does CFPB Rebuke of Credit Bureaus Portend Tougher Rules?
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau slammed the nation’s credit reporting bureaus over their handling of complaints in a report that could serve as a precursor to stricter oversight of the industry.
The CFPB said that Equifax, Experian and TransUnion often fail to help consumers resolve issues or to give them adequate responses. The consumer agency received more than 700,000 complaints about Equifax, Experian and TransUnion between January 2020 and September 2021, accounting for more than half of all the consumer complaints submitted to the CFPB during that period, according to the report.
The report said consumers are often “caught in an automated system” that fails to fix incomplete or inaccurate information on their credit reports, and that their issues are getting solved far less often than in the past, ultimately hurting their credit scores and making it more expensive for them to borrow.
The report provides the agency a “starting point” to bring enforcement actions and regulatory changes to the credit reporting industry, said Jaret Seiberg, an analyst at the Cowen Washington Research Group.
Such moves could include new CFPB rules on how the companies resolve errors, including the possibility that they will be required to treat any debt under dispute as an error until they can show it is legitimate, Seiberg wrote in a note to clients. The latter change could lead to “consumers flooding the bureaus with demands for corrections,” he warned.
The CFPB said last year that it would explore the industry’s handling of complaints more thoroughly after finding in March 2021 that credit bureaus had "stopped providing complete and accurate responses" to many complaints. Complaints to the CFPB jumped 54% to 542,300 in 2020, with some complaints related to the pandemic but most citing inaccurate information on consumers’ credit reports, according to a CFPB report issued last year.
In its latest analysis, the CFPB said the credit bureaus often ignore complaints when they think a third-party credit-repair company is involved, or they forward complaints to their general dispute channels, where the CFPB is less able to track results.
Those two factors appeared to be major contributors behind a sharp drop in the percentage of complaints that the companies reported led to relief for consumers. That metric fell to less than 2% of cases in 2021 from 25% in 2019, according to the report. (American Banker, Jan. 6)
Credit Union Regulator Gives Preliminary Go-Ahead on Crypto Partnerships
Credit unions have received their first green light from the National Credit Union Administration to partner with crypto firms to help members to manage digital assets.
NCUA Issues Letter on Voluntary Credit Union Diversity Self-Assessment; Due Jan. 15
NCUA Board Chairman Todd Harper is inviting CUs to participate in NCUA's Diversity Self-Assessment. The Diversity Self-Assessment is a valuable tool designed to help CUs evaluate and advance your credit union’s diversity policies and practices. Deadline to file is Jan. 15, 2022.
New Ginnie Mae Director Should Examine Treatment of CUs
CUNA raised several pertinent credit union issues with new Government National Mortgage Association (GNMA) President Alanna McCargo in a letter Thursday. McCargo was confirmed to lead the agency in December.
Ginnie Mae has long excluded credit unions from its definition of “depository institutions,” which CUNA says has no statutory basis.
Your League weighed in on this issue last August.
Financial Services / Economy
Truliant FCU Issues $50M Secondary Capital in 1st Rated Debt for CU
Winston-Salem, N.C.-based Truliant Federal Credit Union completed the private placement of $50 million in secondary capital, a deal believed to be the first-ever rated debt issuance from a credit union.
The secondary capital was issued in the form of 10-year unsecured subordinated notes that will mature Nov. 30, 2031. Truliant said in a press release that it believes the deal is the largest single issuance of secondary capital by a credit union as well as the first one to receive an investment-grade rating. In November, Kroll Bond Rating Agency assigned a BBB- rating for the credit union's subordinated debt and a BBB rating for deposit and senior unsecured debt. (S&P Global Market Intelligence)
Latest Meeting Minutes Indicate Fed May Move Faster Than Expected to Raise Rates
Newly released minutes from the Federal Reserve’s most recent meeting in December indicate the Fed may move more quickly to raise rates than many have predicted.
The central bank had projected in December that it would raise interest rates three times in 2022 as the economy rebounded and inflation remains above the Fed’s stated 2% annual target. The Fed is now expected to wrap up the large-scale bond buying program in the near future, as well.
News From Credit Unions
Charitable Grant from Chartway’s We Promise Foundation to Make-A-Wish Greater Virginia Made a Holiday Dream Come True
When it comes to providing joy, hope, and smiles, there’s nothing that can stop Chartway’s We Promise Foundation from delivering on its promise to kid heroes in its communities.
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