In its largest settlement under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act against a company that is not a mortgage insurer, the CFPB ordered Alabama real estate company RealtySouth to pay a $500,000 civil penalty to settle claims it gave inadequate disclosures of its relationship with an affiliated title insurance company. The practices identified by the CFPB’s investigation illegally benefited TitleSouth, an affiliated company owned by the same holding company that owns RealtySouth, according to the bureau, and left consumers unaware of their rights to choose service providers during the home-buying process. “RealtySouth’s preprinted form purchase contracts, which its agents provided to homebuyers preparing to make an offer on a home, either explicitly directed...

A small mortgage lender that mostly provides loss mitigation financing to distressed homeowners has strayed into the CFPB's crosshairs and was compelled to pay $83,000 in a civil money penalty to settle charges it illegally split fees in violation of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act. Begun in 2004, 1st Alliance Lending, LLC, is an East Hartford, CT-based lender that purchases troubled mortgages from servicers, and then reaches out to the affected borrowers and offers them new loans with reduced principal amounts under federal mortgage efforts such as the Hope for Homeowners program.

Mortgage lender representatives urged the CFPB recently to delay its project to address the “pain points” associated with the mortgage closing process until after its integrated disclosure rule under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act and the Truth in Lending Act takes effect and is fully digested by the industry. “The new rule is intended to greatly simplify consumer disclosures, eliminate surprises at closing and broadly improve the consumer experience,” said the American Bankers Association, the Financial Services Roundtable of the...

Mortgage industry attorneys expect to see more Consumer Financial Protection Bureau enforcement actions in the future stemming from compliance deficiencies that were dug up during the supervisory examination process. “One of the things that we saw towards the last quarter of 2013 was a couple of enforcement actions which grew directly out of supervisory exams,” Allyson Baker, a partner in the litigation group at the Venable law firm, said during a webinar this week sponsored by Inside Mortgage Finance. Baker, formerly an enforcement attorney with the CFPB, was referencing...

As mortgage lenders begin preparing for the new mortgage disclosure regime being instituted by the CFPB’s final rule, they should revisit lessons learned during their previous adventures with the Truth in Lending Act and the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act. “RESPA reform from January 1, 2010, is still close in many of our minds, and we remember back to ’09 being a year that we spent a massive amount of time implementing that new regulation,” said Amy Thoreson Long, senior counsel in the consumer lending division at Wells Fargo. Then in 2010...

Mortgage lenders may be suffering from compliance burnout these days after getting up to speed with major new rules from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. But they would do well to start preparing now for the bureau’s revolutionary integrated mortgage disclosure rule that aims to change the way consumers shop for such loans and how lenders go about originating them. “The integration of the Truth in Lending Act and the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act mortgage disclosures has been a goal almost since the time the two statutes were issued, and certainly from the time the good-faith estimate began focusing on loan terms,” Benjamin Olson, counsel at BuckleySandler, said during a webinar sponsored this week by Inside Mortgage Finance. The new disclosures become mandatory Aug. 1, 2015. Joseph Kolar, a partner with BuckleySandler, pointed...

The CFPB is seeking consumer comments on the mortgage closing process, specifically asking consumers to identify the key “pain points” associated with mortgage closing and how those pain points might by addressed by market innovations and technology. Specifically, the agency said it wanted comments on how to increase the use of technology and promote inventions that encourage a more streamlined mortgage closing process while also improving consumer knowledge. The agency said it is seeking information from market...

The CFPB has gone ahead and issued the last big piece to the mortgage finance puzzle it was mandated to manufacture by the Dodd-Frank Act, the integrated mortgage-disclosure rule under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act and the Truth in Lending Act and related forms. The good news for the mortgage finance industry – apart from the 20-month implementation period – is that the new rule and forms, part of the bureau’s “know before you owe” initiative, are not nearly as “transformational” towards the fundamental nature of the...

Mortgage lenders will have until Aug. 1, 2015, to implement the new integrated mortgage-disclosure forms and related rule issued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau this week. The new forms will replace the existing federal disclosures under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act and the Truth in Lending Act. Bureau officials hope they will help consumers better understand their options, choose the deal that’s best for them, and avoid costly surprises at closing. The new, three-page loan estimate form will be provided...

The CFPB’s much-anticipated integrated mortgage disclosure final rule and related forms could be issued as early as Wednesday, Nov. 20, when the bureau plans to conduct a public field hearing in Boston on the mortgage aspect of its broader “know before you owe” initiative. The event will feature remarks by CFPB Director Richard Cordray and testimony from consumer groups, industry representatives and members of the public. The purpose of the forthcoming rule and forms is to integrate and harmonize the mortgage disclosures consumers receive...