Jim Rohn once said, “Your life does not get better by chance, it gets better by change.”

According to recent market intelligence, retail spend continues to trend up, translating into increased balance growth on new bankcard and retail card originations

Retail spend continues to trend up from a year ago driven by continued demand for autos in addition to growth in clothing store and restaurant sales. Translating into increased balance growth on new bankcard and retail card originations, particularly seen in the super prime and prime consumer risk segments, where balance growth and origination volumes had been down a year ago given relatively cautious sentiment. This is an encouraging sign in consumer confidence given the overall economic trends in unemployment and downward pressure on home prices.

Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. announces revisions to proposed large bank pricing rule

On March 20, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) announced a proposed amendment to the Assessments, Dividends, Assessment Base and Large Bank Pricing Rule that it put forward in February 2011. The revised rule attempts to address lender concerns that they would be unable to comply with the new rule’s provisions, particularly the added requirement of reporting subprime and leveraged consumer loans.

Revisions proposed to the large bank pricing rule

Under the new proposal, subprime consumer loans would be renamed “higher-risk consumer loans and securities” and would be defined as:

• All consumer loans where, as of origination or refinance, the probability of default within two years was greater than 20 percent, excluding those consumer loans considered to be nontraditional mortgage loans; and
• Securitizations that are more than 50 percent collateralized by consumer loans meeting the criteria above, except those that are classified as trading book.

The FDIC will collect comments on the changes for 60 days and has extended the compliance date for the new reporting requirements until Oct. 1, 2012.

To find out how Experian can help you comply with the FDIC’S Large Bank Pricing Rule, contact us today or call 1 888 414 1120.

Since President Obama used a recess “appointment” to name former Ohio attorney general Richard Cordray as the first director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in January, the new director and the bureau have hit the ground running.

New Rule for Third-Party Debt Collectors

In February, the CFPB released a proposed rule that defined third-party debt collectors with more than $10 million in annual receipts and consumer reporting agencies with more than $7 million in receipts as “larger market participants.” This is the first of many proposed rules that will define the larger market participants that will be susceptible to the bureau’s nonbank supervision program.

Know Before You Owe: The Mortgage Disclosure Form

Another of the CFPB’s top priorities for 2012 is promoting greater consumer financial understanding. The bureau has continued its Know Before You Owe program, which aims to make financial disclosure forms shorter, simpler and easier for consumers to understand. Later this year, the CFPB is set to finalize a new mortgage disclosure form that combines and simplifies the forms that borrowers currently receive at closing. In addition, the CFPB is developing a financial aid shopping sheet for students to better understand their loan options, as well as a shorter and simpler model credit card agreement.