A legislative proposal to charge veterans, servicemembers and military spouses more for a VA home loan is getting heat from lenders and the Department of Veterans Affairs itself. Testifying before the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs last week, Paul Lawrence, VA undersecretary for benefits, warned that increasing VA loan fees would impose additional financial burdens on veterans who are trying to buy a home, making them more vulnerable to predatory lending. Fee-related proposals are included in H.R. 299, the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act of 2017. The House of Representatives passed the bill by a vote of 382-0 in June and it is currently under consideration in the Senate. H.R. 229 would expand disability benefits to Vietnam veterans who were exposed to Agent Orange while serving on U.S. ships offshore or on the ground in Thailand and the Korean demilitarized ...

The appraisal industry is opposed to a legislative proposal that would make changes to how appraisals are procured for the VA home loan program. The appraisal measure is one of the key provisions in H.R. 299, the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act, which the House of Representatives passed by a vote of 382-0 in June. The bill is now pending in the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. The Blue Water Act would clarify presumptions relating to veterans’ exposure to herbicide, such as Agent Orange, during the Vietnam era and disability claims. The bill also proposes changes to the VA loan fee structure, including a proposed hike to the fees veterans, servicemembers and their spouses pay to obtain a VA-guaranteed home loan. The appraisal provision in H.R. 299 would allow VA appraisers to engage a third party to perform property inspections on their behalf. The provision addresses a problem with ...

A federal judge in Ohio recently sided with a law firm in a debt collection enforcement action taken by the CFPB. Industry attorneys said the ruling calls into question whether the bureau should bring future actions against such firms. The CFPB filed a lawsuit in April 2017 against the debt collection law firm Weltman, Weinberg & Reis for falsely representing in collection letters sent to consumers that attorneys were involved in collecting the debt. In most cases ...

A progressive group recently filed a lawsuit against the CFPB and the Office of Management and Budget for allegedly failing to provide records on Kathy Kraninger, President Trump’s nominee to become the next director of the CFPB. Allied Progress, a consumer watchdog, said in the lawsuit that it is suing to compel the agencies to respond to Freedom of Information Act requests for records associated with Kraninger. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court ...

The White House, according to industry insiders, has formed a small search team to help pick a successor to Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mel Watt, whose tenure at the agency is imperiled because of recent sexual harassment allegations levied against him by an employee.Watt’s five-year term is scheduled to end in early January 2019, but it’s possible he might be forced from the position much sooner or decide to step down on his own. The 72-year-old regulator – a former Democratic Congressman from North Carolina – has declined to discuss the matter, but issued a statement through the FHFA’s public relations department saying he’s “confident that the investigation currently in progress will ...

Lenders will be asking the Department of Housing and Urban Development to clarify the eligibility of borrowers with deferred immigration status for an FHA-insured loan. A mortgage industry trade group is currently drafting a letter on “a series of technical FHA handbook recommendations,” including greater clarity on loan applications submitted by borrowers registered under the government’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. DACA status was offered to children who were brought illegally into the U.S. by their parents or guardians but have been in the country for most of their lives. The program was created by the Obama administration as a way for recipients to work legally in the country while Congress could agree on what to do with them. The program faces uncertainty after President Trump rescinded it in September last year as part of his administration’s zero-tolerance immigration ...

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa earlier this month granted preliminary approval of an $11.2 million settlement in a proposed class-action against national bank JPMorgan Chase. According to the complaint filed in 2016, Chase charged and collected interest on FHA-insured loans that paid off early. Chase was either the lender or the servicer of the loans. The lawsuit, Audino et al. v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, alleges that the bank breached the promissory notes underlying the class’s FHA-insured home loans when it collected post-payment interest without providing disclosures to borrowers who made a prepayment inquiry, request for payoff figures, or tender of prepayment. Plaintiffs allege that the bank did not use the proper FHA form to provide the disclosures to consumers. Chase denies any wrongdoing and neither admits nor concedes any actual or potential fault or liability. The bank also denies it was ...

The CFPB recently fined Kansas-based National Credit Adjusters and its former chief executive $800,000 for illegal debt collection practices. The bureau originally ordered a $6 million civil money penalty but suspended most of it based on the financial condition of NCA and its former CEO. The CFPB said in a consent order that NCA and its former CEO, Bradley Hochstein, purchased consumer debt and used a network of debt collection companies that frequently ...

The controversial structure of the CFPB and its enforcement tactics will likely draw skeptical attention from the U.S. Supreme Court if President Trump’s pick, Brett Kavanaugh, is confirmed by the Senate, industry attorneys said. President Trump recently nominated Kavanaugh to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy, a moderate justice who has announced his retirement. Kavanaugh is a judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit with a pro-business ...

CFPB Joins Task Force on Market Integrity and Consumer Fraud. The CFPB recently joined a new Task Force on Market Integrity and Consumer Fraud, created by President Trump pursuant to an executive order. The task force is led by the Department of Justice, with the participation of the CFPB, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Federal Trade Commission. The task force will provide guidance for the investigation and prosecution of cases [Includes four briefs] ...