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Kyle A. Owens

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Kyle Owens is a Texas-based attorney who helps successful businesses and individuals resolve conflicts and comply with their legal obligations. He focuses his practice on business and consumer-financial litigation and arbitration, and consumer-financial-regulatory guidance. Kyle has extensive experience working with clients in the Financial Services industry.

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Recent interest-rate decreases have led to a resurgence in the mortgage market, with refinance activity up sharply from levels a year ago. But lenders have underwriting on their minds for reasons other than increased application volume.

The CFPB recently affirmed that it intends to allow the so-called GSE Patch to its Ability-to-Repay/Qualified Mortgage Rule to expire in early 2021. This has home loans executives and their advisors assessing their underwriting obligations in a world without this heavily utilized compliance safe harbor. In advance of the elimination of the patch, the Bureau is requesting comments regarding potential changes to the Rule and the Qualified Mortgage definition.…
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Co-Authored by Erin Fonte

Cryptocurrencies have captured the imaginations of individuals and emerging businesses drawn to their potential to serve as alternative stores of value, to reduce transaction costs by eliminating intermediaries, and―most notably in popular culture and media―to provide eye-catching opportunities for speculative investing. Coin valuations for well-established players Bitcoin and Ethereum have fallen sharply since late 2017/early 2018, and new players continue to enter and leave the marketplace. As noted previously in this blog, regulators are taking interest.

Much less appreciated and often overlooked is the business potential for the distributed-ledger, or blockchain, architecture that makes cryptocurrencies possible. Distributed-ledger systems present enormous opportunities for businesses to operate more efficiently and mitigate risks. The financial-services industry in particular stands to gain from the adoption of blockchain technology due to the significant variation and complexity of products, business processes, and relationships among industry participants. We have seen great interest in blockchain technology in the banking and securities industries in particular. …
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Amid the uncertainty over the future of the CFPB, another continuing question is whether state consumer protection authorities will act to fill gaps left by the CFPB’s inaction. State attorneys general have tools available to pursue financial services practices that they believe harm consumers, and some have announced intentions to do so. But to date, the states have not initiated a flurry of suits regarding consumer financial protection.

Under the leadership of purported Acting Director Mick Mulvaney, the CFPB has curtailed investigative and enforcement activities, which states could take as a cue to step in. In fact, Mulvaney seemingly exhorted states to do so, as in a speech to the National Association of Attorneys General where he said that the CFPB would look to states for “a lot more leadership when it comes to enforcement.” …
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