Florida. Gov. Rick Scott (R) has signed H.B. 951, which ratifies the validity of electronic documents submitted to and accepted by a court clerk or county recorder for recordation, whether or not those documents complied with applicable e-document-related laws and regulations at the time. Louisiana. Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) has signed H.B. 492, which exempts from the mortgage loan originator licensing requirement set forth under the Louisiana Residential Mortgage Lending Act certain individuals…
The Department of Housing and Urban Development is conducting an in-depth review of mortgage lenders, including those that pose the highest risk, in anticipation of a drastic reduction in the number of FHA lenders because of recent FHA reform measures. Responding to a recent report by the HUD Office of the Inspector General on the FHA lender recertification process, HUD said its Lender Approval and Recertification Division has begun manual reviews of 200 FHA-approved lenders that could potentially spell trouble for the agency. The more detailed reviews are part of HUD’s implementation of a final lender-related rule issued in June last year. The rule increased...
If you make your living originating residential mortgages, you’re going to have to be licensed either by the state or by the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry under the federal Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act, otherwise known as the SAFE Act, under a new final rule from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. …
Under a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission, a federal court has banned First Universal Lending and its three owners, Sean Zausner, David Zausner and David Feingold, an attorney in Palm Beach Gardens, FL, from the mortgage modification business and ordered them to pay almost $19 million for consumer refunds. The defendants allegedly deceived distressed homeowners with phony claims that they would negotiate with their respective lenders to modify their mortgages and make them more affordable ...
The House Appropriations Committee, in a politically charged move, has approved a $19.9 billion spending bill that will affect regulators and the implementation of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Among the visible implications of the budget package, which is almost $2 billion (9 percent) below last year’s funding level and almost $6 billion below President Obama’s FY2012 request – is a double move on the controversial Consumer Financial Protection Bureau…
Staff at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau can proceed with their integrated mortgage disclosure project, “know before you owe,” without having a confirmed director in place, and they might even be able to release a proposed rule before a chief is confirmed by the Senate. But any final rule issuance on the bureau’s part would likely prompt a legal challenge from somewhere within the mortgage finance industry, according to some leading industry attorneys. …
Morgan Keegan, a brokerage subsidiary of Regions Financial, agreed to pay $200 million last week to settle fraud charges related to subprime mortgage-backed securities. The settlement was reached with the Securities and Exchange Commission, state regulators and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. The regulators accused Morgan Keegan of causing the false valuation of subprime MBS in five funds managed by Morgan Asset Management from January to July 2007. The settlement also states...
Trade groups representing home builders and real estate agents are warning Congress that a decrease in conforming loan limits will result in higher interest rates for borrowers and other less favorable loan terms. However, the housing advocates face a tough battle in extending temporarily elevated conforming loan limits. Without action from Congress, the high-cost loan limit for agency mortgages and the FHA will fall from $729,750 to $625,500 beginning Oct. 1. Some 5.25 million owner-occupied homes will no longer qualify...
Treasury Undersecretary Jeffrey Goldstein told an industry gathering last week that the Obama administration is paying very close attention to industry feedback on its controversial risk-retention proposed rule, after an outpouring of concern from both the industry and a number of members of Congress raised the alarm. “We are seriously considering feedback and are committed to getting this rule right, so that we can ensure securitization ...
The Supreme Court of the United States has accepted First American Financial Corp. v. Edwards, in which the justices will consider whether an individual who has not suffered any actual damages from violations of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act has legal standing to sue in federal court. SCOTUS plans to consider two questions, the first of which is “whether RESPA requires the plaintiff in a private damages action to allege that an unlawful…
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