With all the concern thatfs been raised about loan originator compensation since the mortgage marketfs collapse in 2008, and given a certain amount of gget-toughh rhetoric from leadership at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the agency seemed to take a quick-and-dirty approach when issuing its first pronouncement in topic earlier this month. Back in September 2010, the Federal Reserve put out loan originator compensation rules under the Truth in Lending Act and Regulation Z, effective as of April 6, 2011. Then with enactment of the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010...
The Federal Reserve Board recently brought a consent order against Morgan Stanley to deal with what it characterized as a pattern of misconduct and negligence in residential mortgage servicing and foreclosure processing at the Wall Street firms Saxon Mortgage Services subsidiary, once the 34th largest mortgage servicer in the United States. As noted in the announcements relating to the 2011 enforcement actions, the Federal Reserve believes monetary sanctions are appropriate and plans to announce monetary penalties in these cases, the Fed said. The monetary penalties...
U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Mortgage Servicing Settlement Approved. Earlier this month, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia gave its approval to the consent orders that make up the $25 billion mortgage servicing settlement by federal regulators and 49 state attorneys general into alleged mortgage-related violations by the nationfs five largest mortgage servicers. The federal agencies that signed on to the settlement are the Department of Justice, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Department of Treasury...
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau this week detailed servicing rules it will soon propose regarding disclosures to borrowers and servicing procedures. The mortgage servicing rules we are considering reflect two basic, common sense standards no surprises and no runarounds, CFPB Director Richard Cordray said. They would apply to all mortgage servicers regardless of how they are organized, including banks, thrifts, credit unions and nonbank servicers. The rule, which will amend the Truth in Lending Act and Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, is required by the Dodd-Frank Act. The CFPB said it will publish a proposal ...
The Federal Housing Finance Agency is in the midst of a full and frank appraisal of the Treasury Departments recently proposed incentive program to spur GSE principal reductions through the Home Affordable Modification Program, with a final answer to be forthcoming later this month, according to the agency head. For months now, FHFA Acting Director Edward DeMarco has been the target of unrelenting political pressure from the Obama administration and Congressional Democrats to allow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to employ mortgage principal reductions as a tool to modify underwater GSE loans.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency expects to finish its latest assessment of principal reductions on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans sometime this month against a backdrop of intensifying public debate over the issue. The Treasury Department this week fought back against claims that its proposed incentive payments to the government-sponsored enterprises, if they agree to principal reduction loan mods, would be a backdoor bailout for banks that service these loans. Treasury earlier this year offered to pay the GSEs the same incentives that other investors get for principal reduction loan mods under...
In Rosenfield v. HSBC Bank USA, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has submitted a friend-of-the-court brief arguing that some mortgage borrowers who did not receive important disclosures mandated by the Truth in Lending Act are permitted to cancel their loans as long as they notify the lender of their intent to cancel within three years. Filed before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in Denver late last week, the CFPB argued that Section 125 of TILA (U.S.C. Section 1635) provides consumers a statutory right to rescind qualifying mortgage loans ...
Last week, the full House Financial Services Committee passed several pieces of legislation, including H.R. 2446, the RESPA Home Warranty Clarification Act of 2011, introduced by Rep. Judy Biggert, R-IL, which advanced with one amendment. The legislation amends the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act of 1974 to state that no prohibited kickback or unearned fee incidental to a real estate settlement service involving a federally related mortgage loan shall be deemed to include, or be deemed to have included, homeowner warranties or similar residential service contracts for ...
Acting Comptroller of the Currency John Walsh reassured participants at an interagency conference on the Community Reinvestment Act last week that the enforcement orders federal bank regulators issued last year and the state attorneys general national mortgage settlement will work well together. Ive said from the beginning that it is not only possible, but absolutely necessary, that our separate actions be able to work well together. And I think weve succeeded in that, Walsh said. The steps we have each required servicers to take to fix the problems in servicing and foreclosure processing ...
Department of Housing and Urban Development.Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.Federal Reserve.Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.Treasury Department/SIG-TARP.Some Nominees Pass; Two Dont. The full Senate has unanimously confirmed Martin Gruenberg, Thomas Hoenig, and Jeremiah Norton to be members of the FDIC Board of Directors, and Thomas Curry to be the Comptroller of the Currency, after all four had ...