It’s now clear that states may provide a transitional license to an individual with a valid license from another state under the Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act and Regulation H. However, they cannot provide a transitional license for a registered loan originator who leaves a federally regulated financial institution to act as a loan originator while pursuing a state license. The clarification came in the form of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Bulletin 2012-05, issued a week and a half ago, in response to some inquiries...
The forthcoming combined Truth in Lending Act and Good Faith Estimate disclosure form and related rule pending at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is at the top of the list of greatest compliance concerns of mortgage lenders, according to the fourth annual compliance survey by QuestSoft, a provider of compliance software and services to the mortgage industry. Of the 426 lenders that were surveyed on their level of anxiety for regulatory changes, a whopping 81 percent identified this CFPB project as at least a medium (33 percent) or a high (48 percent) concern...
Federal Reserve Board.Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.National Mortgage Servicing Standards Continue. The interagency group of federal banking regulators continues to work to develop prudential standards for mortgage servicing activities in parallel with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s initiative, which focuses on certain aspects of mortgage servicing...
Comptroller of the Currency Thomas Curry urged elected officials, businesses and grassroots leaders to encourage borrowers to ask for an independent review of their foreclosure files to determine whether they have been damaged financially by improper servicing practices. In remarks to the Greenlining Institute in Los Angeles last week, Curry called upon conference participants to spread the word to borrowers about the independent foreclosure review, a stipulation in the consent orders that 14 major mortgage servicers agreed to a year ago in a deal with federal banking regulators to settle allegations of deficient...
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 firm’s 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 Department’s 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...
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