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…
Legislation gaining momentum in Congress to create a covered bond framework still lacks the endorsement of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Analysts note that the FDIC’s concerns need to be addressed for there to be any hope of establishing a non-agency market via covered bonds. Last week, the House Financial Services Committee approved H.R. 940, the U.S. Covered Bond Act of 2011, by a 44-7 bipartisan vote. However, the committee rejected...
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...
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. …
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 ...
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. …
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...
All banks under the supervision of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency that engage in mortgage servicing must review their practices and make sure they are complying with foreclosure laws, conducting foreclosures in a safe and sound manner, and establishing responsible business practices that provide accountability and appropriate treatment of borrowers, the OCC said. …
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…
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Integrated Mortgage Disclosure Project. The CFPB has issued a second set of mortgage disclosure prototypes for public review and comment, with a particular emphasis on borrower payments or fees necessary to close a mortgage. In the first set, the back page was identical on both versions, but the “shopping sheet” front page was different. In the second set, the first page is the same on both versions, with substantial differences…
RSS