CFPB Takes Action to Prevent Avoidable Foreclosures

Agencies Will Examine for Compliance with COVID-19 Protections

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, jointly with other government agencies on Nov. 10, announced a return to enforcement of critical protections for families and homeowners. Those protections, implemented in the wake of the Great Recession to prevent another foreclosure crisis, give families the chance to find alternatives to foreclosure before losing their home. The majority of more than one million remaining COVID-19 forbearances are expected to end before the end of the year.

Most homeowners make their monthly mortgage payment to a mortgage servicer, which collects the payments on behalf of the entity that owns the loan and are hired and fired by that entity, not the homeowner. Homeowners cannot shop for a new servicer, no matter how badly they are mistreated. As a result, borrowers cannot exercise market power to discipline mortgage servicers and, absent government intervention, have no defense against a servicer’s abuse of market dominance.

The CFPB issued the joint statement with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the National Credit Union Administration, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and state financial regulators.

The statement makes clear that the agencies will apply their respective supervisory and enforcement authorities to protect homeowners and address any compliance failures. The joint statement provides that a previous joint statement issued in April 2020, which stated that the agencies would relax supervisory and enforcement oversight with respect to certain requirements in Regulation X, will no longer apply. The agencies believe that the servicers have had adequate time to adjust their operations to comply with the timelines and other requirements of Regulation X and servicers will now be expected to fully comply with the rules.

Read the full joint statement.