Press Release

Bradley attorney Haydn Richard was quoted in National Mortgage News on the possibility of CFPB’s [Consumer Financial Protection Bureau] nonbank registry changing course as Trump takes office.

“The registration process itself, including creating an account and uploading documents, is going fine,” said Richards. A company he spoke with was surprised that the process wasn’t more intrusive.

But the more difficult thing for nonbanks is understanding who needs to register and when. Given their size, “many mortgage companies won't need to register until the second round,” Richards explained.

Financial services and mortgage lenders have been struggling with what needs to be included in the filing in the first place.

“It’s not always evident on the face of an order whether it does, in fact, need to be placed in the CFPB registry or not,” Richards said. “That’s where a number of companies have come to us, seeking guidance in terms of evaluating the orders and giving our two cents as to whether it would be subject to disclosure.”

Richards does not expect any immediate cancellation of the registry, as the CFPB created this through the rulemaking process, and it would take some work to undo it.

“However, the new administration is going to take a very close look at the CFPB and evaluate all of the things that it's done in the last four years,” Richards noted.

The new administration could change what the CFPB will do with this database. It was going to be used in connection with the repeat offender program but the Bureau hadn’t yet determined whether it was going to make the information public.

Richards hopes the new administration would walk back those plans, especially as most of this information is already public via the NMLS.

The full article, “Will CFPB’s nonbank registry endure as Trump takes office?,” was published by National Mortgage News on January 9, 2025. (login required)