Compliance attorneys are urging mortgage lenders to reevaluate their lending policies and practices to ensure they are not biased against any protected groups even as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau warned about increased focus on fair lending and redlining in 2015. In their analysis of the CFPB’s recent report on fair lending, attorneys with the Washington, DC, law firm K&L Gates warned that the bureau will increase its scrutiny of mortgage lending amid growing concern about redlining, or refusal to lend to certain groups of borrowers or neighborhoods. Attorneys Melanie Brody and Anjali Garg said...

Mortgage servicing rights are playing an important role in how mortgage lenders finance their businesses, experts say, and a more balanced MSR market is expected this year despite persistent regulatory concerns and worries about high servicing costs. It was clear from a panel discussion at the Urban Institute this week that MSRs have grown in importance as a form of collateral and that it continues to divide lender/servicers and consumer advocates. Overall, six panelists agreed that certain reforms are needed if the market expects to thrive in the current environment. Stephen Fleming, senior vice president with Phoenix Capital, expects...

Such disclosures also should show whether the LO has passed the SAFE Act test.

Deephaven's website boasts that it helps “aspiring” homeowners “purchase homes as soon as one day after foreclosure or short sale.”

As the TRID deadline approaches industry anxieties are getting stronger and more specific in nature.

“Some companies were proactive in addressing these deficiencies in a timely fashion while others' control structures remained problematic,” the MMC said.

In another display of multijurisdictional cooperation, the CFPB and the Maryland Attorney General last week brought an enforcement action against a Maryland-based title company and its executives, alleging they participated in a mortgage kickback scheme, trading cash and marketing services in exchange for referrals. The complaint names Genuine Title, LLC, as well as Jay Zukerberg, Brandon Glickstein, Gary Klopp, Adam Mandelberg, William Peterson, and Angela Pobletts, along with a number of limited-liability companies controlled by certain defendants. The CFPB and Maryland allege that Zukerberg and Glickstein developed and operated schemes to give loan officers marketing services and cash payments in exchange for referrals of title work. The kickback schemes violated the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, which prohibits giving a ...

Last week, in the first such enforcement action of its kind – and as a warning shot across the bow of all financial institutions under its jurisdiction – the CFPB slapped Regions Bank with $7.5 million in fines for charging overdraft fees to consumers who had not opted-in for such coverage. “The 2010 opt-in rule made clear that consumer protection in this area is critical. That Regions Bank violated the law raises definite concerns worthy of note by all depository institutions,” said Cara Petersen, the CFPB’s deputy enforcement director. “Their customers should rest assured that the consumer bureau is here to protect them when it comes to the hard-earned money they keep in their checking accounts.” The depository institution, based in Birmingham ...

Green Tree Servicing entered into a $48 million legal settlement with the CFPB and Federal Trade Commission last week after being accused of botching loan modifications on servicing transfers and harassing and threatening overdue borrowers. In addition to coughing up the $48 million, the nonbank will pay an additional $15 million penalty for what the CFPB called its “illegal” actions. The settlement, ironically, came just a few days after Green Tree – a subsidiary of the publicly traded Walter Investment – was given top grades by Fannie Mae for customer service and foreclosure prevention activities. To make amends, not only must the company compensate borrowers, but it will face “rigorous servicing transfer” requirements from regulators. In a statement on the settlement, the ...

The mortgage industry has just under 100 days until the do-or-die deadline of August 1 kicks in for compliance with the CFPB’s integrated disclosure rule under the Truth in Lending Act and the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, otherwise known as the TRID. And as the new lending environment approaches, industry anxieties are getting stronger and more specific in nature. “The primary concerns that I am hearing are about the inability to reset the fee tolerances when the closing date is significantly delayed, which many fear will require lenders to start over and scuttle closings, and the lack of guidance for wholesale lenders who work with brokers,” said Benjamin Olson, counsel in the Washington, DC, office of the BuckleySandler law ...