A federal regulator set up after the financial crisis to protect consumers announced enforcement actions against four insurance companies yesterday, asserting that the firms paid kickbacks to mortgage lenders for more than 10 years, the New York Times DealBook blog reported yesterday. The accusations by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) focus on mortgage insurance, a product that many borrowers were required to purchase if they did not make a sizable down payment when buying a house. The bureau claims that, because of the kickbacks, home buyers may have had to pay more for the mortgage insurance.
