On March 8, 2024, the CFPB published a blog post highlighting the recent increase in closing costs in residential lending. Therefore, the Bureau is urging consumers to file complaints regarding unresolved mortgage or closing costs or share their experiences with mortgage companies as part of its initiative to analyze how issues like mortgage closing costs affect households and families.

On March 4, 2024, the FDIC revised parts of its Risk Management Manual of Examination Policies. The FDIC conducts examinations to help ensure the stability of insured depository institutions by identifying undue risks and weak risk management practices. 

On March 5, 2024, the CFPB finalized a rule today to cut excessive credit card late fees by closing a loophole exploited by large card issuers. According to the CFPB’s estimates, American families will save more than $10 billion in late fees annually once the final rule goes into effect by reducing the typical fee from $32 to $8.

On February 29, 2024, the CFPB issued a circular to law enforcement agencies and regulators explaining how companies operating comparison-shopping tools can break the law when they steer consumers to certain products or lenders because of kickbacks. The CFPB found some comparison-shopping tools manipulate results or use digital dark patterns because of incentive payments from lenders. The circular explains how these practices may violate federal law and highlights examples of illegal arrangements.

On February 27, 2024, the CFPB published an article describing the recent increase in unlawful fees in the mortgage market resulting in increase of mortgage fees and other costs for consumers. It also announced that in recent court case against a mortgage servicer, the CFPB and the FTC jointly issued an Amicus Brief to reiterate that Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) Section 1692f(1) prohibits debt collectors from collecting “any amount (including any interest, fee, charge, or expense incidental to the principal obligation) unless such amount is expressly authorized by the agreement creating the debt or permitted by law.” 

On February 26, 2024, FinCEN issued a notice and request for comments on the renewal, without change, of existing information collection requirements related to beneficial ownership requirements for legal entity customers. Under BSA, covered financial institutions are required to collect, and to maintain records of, the information used to identify and verify the identity of each beneficial owner of their legal entity customers, subject to certain exclusions and exemptions.

On February 16, 2024, the CFPB revealed, through Terms of Credit Card Plans survey, that large banks are offering higher credit card terms and interest rates than small banks and credit unions, regardless of credit risk. The CFPB found that the 25 largest credit card issuers charged customers interest rates of 8 to 10 points higher than small- and medium-sized banks and credit unions, which can translate to $400 to $500 in additional annual interest for the average cardholder.