OriginationNews reports the person who helped plan staffing, enforcement and direction of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is now the regional director of the West Region office of the agency in San Francisco, covering 18 western states including Alaska, Hawaii and Guam. Edwin L. Chow is responsible for consumer protection and supervisory activities of regulated depository financial institutions with assets over $10 billion, and also in charge of non-depository financial services companies, supervising staff and managers in those locales. Consumer complaints against mortgage companies can now be filed on-line with the CFPB, and the company has 15 days to respond, at least to the CFPB. Lack of a response could bring the heat of investigation from the Bureau. Commissions for the loan originator (LO) are a fixed percentage based on the loan amount, with a focus on the best deal for the customer rather than the best percentage for the lender and/or the LO. MHProNews has learned that as of Jan. 28, FHA-approved lenders and LOs must provide accurate, timely and complete and pertinent company identification information to the FHA; and lenders need to regularly review and update TPO (third-party origination) information in the Sponsored Originator Registry. How the agency will define Qualified Mortgages is yet to come.
