CFPB Probes Mortgage-Insurers: 5 Things to Know for the Week

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The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has been busy since it received authoritative power last year. The consumer watchdog sent a message to the financial-services industry when it fined Capital One for predatory marketing. Now, the agency is probing major mortgage-insurers for under-the-table dealings that left consumers with less money in their pockets.

• Bank of America’s mobile deposit feature is expected to be available for Android smartphones on Monday. According to BofA’s release timeline, the feature was supposed to be available on iPhone and Windows Phone devices but it has yet to arrive. The bank says that some delays may be introduced by the process of pushing updates live through the app stores.
• Over the weekend, part of the ATM network of U.S. Bank was unavailable for two hours due to a power outage on Saturday between 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. EDT. The bank says that the ATM failures did not result from hacking or security issues.
• Starting on Tuesday, some Wells Fargo customers with ex-Wachovia checking accounts will begin facing a $7 monthly service fee. Customers with Essential Checking in accounts in Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and Washington D.C. are impacted by this change. The fee can be waived with a $1,500 minimum balance or $500 in total monthly direct deposits. Enrolling in paperless statements also reduces the monthly fee to $5.
• The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is investigating the mortgage-insurance industry for compliance with federal real-estate laws. Insurance firms, including AIG and Genworth Financial, allegedly paid banks for business — steering new home-loan borrowers to these insurance firms. Some of these borrowers may have paid premiums that were higher than necessary.
• TD Bank partnered with Fiserv, a technology provider in the financial-services industry, to offer a feature that allows customers to receive electronic bills from major household billers, such as utilities, mobile phones carriers and card issuers, directly in their TD Bank accounts. The bank did not say when this feature will be available.