319-325-1171
5438 South Prairie View Drive West Des Moines, IA 50266
About
About
Michael Christians
As principal of Michael Christians Consulting, LLC, Michael assists financial institutions and organizations across the country with ensuring their compliance programs conform to Federal laws and regulations. He provides counsel relative to current rules, assists with the strategic implementation of upcoming regulatory changes and offers customized education and training services.
Michael has more than two decades of experience in the financial services industry with a primary focus on consumer compliance. He obtained his Juris Doctorate from Drake University Law School. He is a member of the Iowa State Bar where he is licensed to practice law.
Recent Blog Posts
On October 22 nd , the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) finalized its personal financial data rights rule, as required by Section 1033 of the Dodd-Frank Act. The rule requires financial institutions and other data providers to make covered data regarding financial products and services available to consumers and authorized third parties in electronic form. For purposes of the rule, a financial product or service is defined as a checking, savings, or other asset account held primarily for a personal, family, or household purpose, and credit cards. Covered data includes, but is not limited to: Transaction history, Balance information, and The name, address, e-mail address, and telephone number associated with the financial product or service. Covered data must be made available in a standardized format upon request. Data may be released to third parties with the consent of the consumer. A third-party may only use the covered data to the extent necessary to provide the consumer with the requested product or service and may not be used to advertise or cross-sell other products and services to the consumer. The final rule provides for tiered compliance dates as follows: April 1, 2026 - FI's with $250 billion or more in assets April 1, 2027 - FI's with between $10 billion and $250 billion in assets April 1, 2028 - FI's with between $3 billion and $10 billion in assets April 1, 2029 - FI's with between $1.5 billion and $3 billion in assets April 1, 2030 - FI's with between $850 million and $1.5 billion in assets Financial institutions with less than $850 million in assets are not subject to the final rule. You can access the final rule and the CFPB’s executive summary here . NOTE: Immediately following its release, the Bank Policy Institute and the Kentucky Bankers Association filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging the rule. Among other things, the lawsuit alleges that the CFPB overstepped its authority in promulgating the rule.
The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) has issued a frequently asked questions document concerning its new reconsideration of value (ROV) requirements announced in Mortgagee Letter 2024-07. The FAQ document, available here , covers the required disclosure, communications with an appraiser regarding an ROV request, the ROV process, required documentation, and more. FHA’s ROV requirements apply to transactions that have a case number assigned on or after October 31, 2024.
On October 7th, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued the fall 2024 edition of its supervisory highlights publication. The report covers several compliance deficiencies uncovered by the Bureau in connection with auto loan financing. Pay close attention to the following list to ensure that your financial institution does not have any of the same weaknesses in your auto lending program: Misleading advertising - mailing prescreened advertisements promoting rates "as low as" a specified APR that the intended consumers had no reasonable chance of qualifying for Failing to accurately disclose an applicable prepayment penalty in the loan agreement Wrongful repossession activities - failing to cancel repossession orders when consumers had brought their loan current and repossessing automobiles for which the financial institution had not perfected its lien Allocating payments in a different order than that outlined in the borrower's loan agreement, resulting in unfair late fees Failing to timely deliver the title to a borrower who had recently paid off their loan with the financial institution Collecting a fee for an add-on product (such as GAP coverage) that the borrower did not agree to purchase Imposing onerous requirements on a borrower to cancel a previously purchased add-on product Inaccurately calculating refund amounts in connection with add-on products, or failing to issue a refund altogether Reporting inaccurate information about a borrower's loan to a consumer reporting agency and failing to timely update the reported information once the inaccuracy was discovered You can access the supervisory highlights here .
Address
5438 South Prairie View Drive
West Des Moines, IA 50266
Phone
319-325-1171
michael@mchristiansconsulting.com
Michael Christians Consulting, LLC
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