Industry and legal concerns that enactment of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act made substantial changes to the federal preemption landscape are “much ado about nothing,” according to two legal scholars at the law firm Barnett Sivon & Natter PC in Washington, DC. In a scholarly work scheduled for publication in the Virginia Law and Business Review this fall, the pair addresses the view of some commentators that the Dodd-Frank Act changed the standard used to determine if a state law is preempted. Some have felt that state law is only preempted if the law...
Mortgage bankers and brokers are making a fresh push to support H.R. 4323, the Consumer Mortgage Choice Act, legislation that would change the way points and fees are calculated under the Qualified Mortgage definition in the Dodd-Frank Act. Trade groups representing these segments of the industry have made new appeals to their members recently to reach out to their respective lawmakers and garner their support for the legislation. The Consumer Mortgage Choice Act would spell out that affiliate title fees, certain loan originator compensation, and escrow payments are not included...
Three Republicans on the House Committee on Financial Services again pressed Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray for additional information regarding the agency’s budget, even though Congress does not control the bureau’s purse strings. The Republicans’ justification in pressing the issue is that the bureau’s budget affects the national debt while that of the other non-appropriated federal banking regulators do not. Noting the rising of the federal government’s budget deficit and the fact that the CFPB is funded by the Federal Reserve, the lawmakers...
Kansas. Judge Robert Berger of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Kansas ruled in three decisions late last month that a mortgage naming Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc., as mortgagee is valid and enforceable, upholding MERS’ role as agent for its members. Judge Berger’s rulings in In re Van Nostrand, In re Huerter and In re Wilkinson found that there was no splitting of the mortgage and note because MERS held the mortgage on behalf of the note owner. “The MERS system has been scrutinized and analyzed by other courts, and, provided MERS can produce a complete...
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.Director Acknowledges There Is Doubt About His Appointment. Richard Cordray, President Obamafs choice as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, acknowledged in a memo to staff earlier this year that there was some doubt about the validity of his recess appointment, Inside Regulatory Strategies has learned. gThere is a chance (a minor chance in my view, though everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion) that the appointment would be invalidated by a court,h Cordray said in a Feb. 6, 2012, gdear colleagueh...
Law firm Davis Polkfs latest progress report on the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act shows that a total of 221 Dodd]Frank rulemaking requirement deadlines (55.5 percent) have come and gone, with 148 (67 percent) having been missed and 73 (33 percent) having been met with finalized rules, as of May 1. Regulators have yet to issue proposals for 21 of the 148 missed rules. gOf the 398 total rulemaking requirements, 108 (27.1 percent) have been met with finalized rules, and rules have been proposed that would meet 146 (36.7 percent) more, the report went...
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac reported robust activity in their expanded refinance programs for underwater borrowers, while Ginnie Mae is looking at new procedures to identify the potential new issuers that are most likely to become strong participants in its program. Freddie officials are very focused on the expanded Home Affordable Refinance Program, said Paul Mullings, senior VP for single-family sourcing at the government-sponsored enterprise. He told attendees at the Mortgage Bankers Association National Secondary Market Conference in New York this week that HARP now accounts for 26 percent of the refi loan...
The massive legal action initiated by the Federal Housing Finance Agency last summer against many of the nation’s biggest lenders has survived its first legal challenge relatively unscathed following a federal judge’s rejection of the defendant’s motion to dismiss. Judge Denise Cote of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York last week denied UBS Americas’ motion to dismiss on statute of limitations grounds. The ruling permits the FHFA to proceed full steam ahead with its claim that UBS violated federal securities laws by misleading Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into purchasing $6.4...
The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s non-agency mortgage-backed security repurchase claims against UBS can proceed, according to a ruling last week by U.S. District Judge Denise Cote in Manhattan federal court. The decision could also be applied to the other 16 lawsuits the FHFA filed against non-agency MBS issuers. Among other issues, the ruling refuted claims ... [Includes two briefs]
Mortgage servicers could find themselves in a quandary as they implement the national servicing standards outlined in the March foreclosure settlement agreement, especially if they run into conflicting FHA requirements. Compliance experts say that while many of the settlement standards could be carried out within the FHA program without being at odds with existing FHA requirements, conflicts do exist with the guidelines that cannot be resolved. Even when it is technically possible to comply with both FHA guidelines and the settlement standards, it is still going to ...
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