Richard Cordray, director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), told a group of mortgage bankers today that he does not expect a wave of lawsuits to be brought against the bureau as a result of its new qualified mortgage and ability-to-repay rules, which take effect in January.
During a speech at an American Bankers Association conference in New Orleans, Cordray said the bureau understands that it will take time for lenders and servicers to implement measures to comply with the new rules and indicated that it will initially be lenient in terms of enforcement.
‘We are all in this together, and so we appreciate the urgency that is being felt and the resources that are being mobilized to prepare for the approaching effective dates,’ Cordray said in his speech. ‘Let me also assure you that our oversight of the new mortgage rules in the early months will be sensitive to the progress made by institutions that have been squarely focused on making good-faith efforts to come into substantial compliance on time – a point that we have also been discussing with our fellow regulators.’
For more, check out Cordray's speech, as well as this Bloomberg News report.