The CFPB’s integrated mortgage disclosure rule under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act and the Truth in Lending Act might not be out until early December, an informed source told Inside the CFPB. For months, the expectation had been that an October release was in the offing, but it still has yet to come out, and bureau personnel say they don’t have a release date. “We were in a meeting at the beginning of October, and before that, there were some pretty heavy rumors that it was going to come out at the end of October,” said...

The CFPB has filed a lawsuit in federal district court against a Kentucky law firm, Borders & Borders, PLC and its principals, for illegally paying kickbacks for real estate settlement referrals through a network of shell companies. The CFPB alleges that Borders & Borders and principals Harry Borders, John Borders, Jr., and J. David Borders violated the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act by operating a network of affiliated companies to pay kickbacks for referrals of mortgage settlement business. RESPA prohibits giving...

HUD Delays Implementation of Short-Sale Participation Requirement. The implementation of the PFS Participation Requirement, which is found in Mortgagee Letter 2013-23, Updated Pre-Foreclosure Sale and Deed-in-Lieu-of-Foreclosure Requirements, has been delayed indefinitely. All other provisions included in the mortgagee letter remain in effect. Previous guidance on short-sale participation requirements also remain in effect until further notice. FHA to Consolidate Lender ID Numbers. The FHA will consolidate the lender identification numbers of those participating in both the FHA Title I and Title II programs, provided ...

With six months left before a host of rules from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau kick in, mortgage industry representatives continue to ask for changes and clarifications – including some related to the components of the pending “qualified mortgage” points-and-fees calculation. Early this month, the CFPB formally proposed for public comment amendments to rules issued in January under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act and the Truth in Lending Act. Much of the focus of the proposed amendments relates to loan originator compensation and mortgage servicing issues. Industry commenters focused...

The CFPB’s final rule to integrate the consumer mortgage disclosures under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act and the Truth in Lending Act is now projected to be issued sometime in October, a month later than had previously been indicated, according to the bureau’s semi-annual regulatory agenda update. The RESPA/TILA disclosure rule will be the last significant mortgage-related rulemaking as stipulated by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act for the foreseeable future. All of the...

Two insurance industry trade groups recently filed suit in federal district court to contest the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s final rule formalizing its “disparate impact” interpretation of the Fair Housing Act, which asserts that housing policies and practices can be deemed discriminatory not only through their intent but also by their effects. The rule, issued in early February, formally establishes the three-part burden-shifting test for determining when a practice with a discriminatory effect violates the Fair Housing Act. The American Insurance Association and the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies, whose members sell homeowners insurance, challenged...

Some experts are predicting that the new ability-to-repay rule issued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which sets the boundaries of “qualified mortgages,” will also lead some lenders to focus on so-called non-QM loans that will become the new subprime market. At the American Bankers Association’s regulatory compliance conference, held this week in Chicago, ABA Senior Regulatory Counsel Rodrigo Alba said publicly what many mortgage bankers have been thinking privately. Responding to a comment from one banker who said her institution might opt to do only non-QM lending, just for simplicity’s sake, Alba said, “Wanted or not, this may start leaning into being the new subprime.” He added...

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has announced plans to consolidate multifamily hubs nationwide and close a number of its smaller field offices. The plan would result in an estimated $61.9 million in annual costs savings for HUD after completion and affect approximately 900 of the department’s 9,300 employees. No employee will be laid off as a result of the restructuring, according to HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan. Donovan said the changes are part of a broader, long-term effort that will allow HUD to continue to deliver high-quality services by adapting modern best practices. The decision to ...

A major mortgage lender and four private mortgage insurance companies – all co-defendants in a class-action lawsuit over captive reinsurance – failed to convince a federal court that the case should be thrown out because the charges were brought well after the timeframe allowed under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act. Instead, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania ruled that the mortgage borrowers should have the benefit of “equitable tolling,” which allows plaintiffs to bring cases beyond the normal limits of the law if the defendant actively misled them or the plaintiff was prevented in some extraordinary way from asserting his rights in a timely manner. RESPA generally requires...

The four surviving private MIs that are still writing new business after the wreckage of the hous-ing market collapse last week agreed to pay a relatively modest $15.40 million to settle a longstanding dispute over their arrangements with captive reinsurance entities sponsored by lenders. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau alleged that Genworth Financial, United Guaranty, Radian Guaranty and Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corp. violated the Real Estate Settlement Proce-dures Act by paying illegal kickbacks – in the form of reinsurance premiums – to get business from mortgage lenders. “The payments made as supposed ‘reinsurance’ premiums did not correspond to a proportionate transfer of insurance risk between the parties,” said CFPB Director Richard Cordray. An Inside Mortgage Finance analysis of MI regulatory filings suggests...