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Court upholds long-standing RESPA interpretation in PHH v. CFPB
Posted Date: Tuesday, October 11, 2016
The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has released the long-awaited decision for PHH Corp. v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and it contains some very exciting news for industry participants. Read on for more details.
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TILA, First Amendment case reaches Supreme Court
Posted Date: Monday, October 17, 2016
The Supreme Court has granted certiorari to consider the validity of certain state credit card surcharge laws that have sought to regulate how merchants communicate price differences between “surcharges” and “discounts.” Is this any different from the fee-shifting action the CFPB took against an individual loan officer earlier this year? Read on to learn more.
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TILA right to rescind dismissed
Posted Date: Monday, October 10, 2016
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled on a TILA rescission case involving a widow whose house was foreclosed upon in 2016. Read on for details of the court’s decision.
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Seventh Circuit upholds district court’s findings on RESPA damages
Posted Date: Monday, October 10, 2016
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals was tasked with determining whether plaintiffs Natalie and Daniel Diedrich established standing under Spokeo and sufficiently connected their alleged damages (“everything that Ocwen has put us through over three years of this lawsuit”) to how Ocwen responded to their qualified written request (QWR) and handled the loan modification and foreclosure proceedings.
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Borrower’s claims survive dismissal motions
Posted Date: Thursday, October 6, 2016
An Ohio borrower sued his servicers for TILA and RESPA violations related to his request for rescission and a qualified written request for information. The defendants brought forth motions to dismiss on each claim, but the district court denied them all. Why did the borrower prevail? Read on to find out.
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Federal court examines mortgage agreement’s arbitration clause
Posted Date: Thursday, October 6, 2016
The issue of pre-dispute arbitration is still up in the air as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau continues its rulemaking. The U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey recently was tasked with deciding whether to uphold an arbitration clause attached to a mortgage loan repayment and security agreement, even though the named defendant was not a signatory to the original agreement.
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CFPB’s order focuses on marketing UDAAP
Posted Date: Thursday, October 6, 2016
Although the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau likes to tout its support for innovation, it announced a consent order against online lender LendUp for violations of UDAAP through its marketing and advertising practices. The bureau reminded starts-up that they will be regulated “just like established companies.” Read on for more details.
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CFPB charges credit repair firm with UDAAP violations
Posted Date: Monday, September 26, 2016
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has filed a complaint against Prime Marketing Holdings, LLC, a credit repair company, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. The bureau is alleging that the company charged consumers illegal advance fees and misrepresented the cost and effectiveness of its services. Read on for more details.
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‘Well-settled law’ accepted in try title lawsuit
Posted Date: Thursday, September 29, 2016
Judge Mark L. Wolf of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts has adopted and incorporated the report and recommendations of Magistrate Judge Donald L. Cabell in Carver v. The Bank of New York Mellon. This case involved the question of when to determine superior title under the two-step process articulated in Abate. Read on for more details.
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RESPRO, MBA among 1,500 TRID commenters
Posted Date: Thursday, October 20, 2016
The comment period for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s proposed amendments to TRID closed earlier this week, with more than 1,500 public letters submitted. Among the commenters were representatives from RESPRO and the Mortgage Bankers Association. Read on to hear what they had to say regarding subsequent and revised disclosures, title insurance, cure provisions, rate locks, lender credits and more.
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CFPB updates TRID compliance guides
Posted Date: Thursday, October 13, 2016
Just days before the comment period on TRID amendments closes Oct. 18, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced that it has updated its Small Entity Compliance Guide and Guide to Forms. Read on for a complete listing of all the changes made to these guides and how to provide comments to the bureau regarding its TRID amendments.
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TRID Tip: Issuing documents on federal holidays
Posted Date: Thursday, October 13, 2016
When Christopher Columbus landed in America, the poor man thought he was in India. If you were like Mr. Columbus and confused (in your case, about the timing requirements for delivering Loan Estimates and Closing Disclosures on holidays), fear not. Richard Horn of Richard Horn Legal PLLC, who led the final TRID rule while an attorney at the CFPB, provided RESPA News with the answers.
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Confusion with TRID disclosures persists
Posted Date: Thursday, October 6, 2016
Consumer complaints can be a valuable source of information upon where your business can improve its products and services; and as the industry is all too aware, complaints also direct certain regulator’s supervisory and enforcement strategies. A new survey has found that more than 40 percent of American homebuyers felt taken advantage of or were confused by the calculation of title insurance fees on TRID’s new mortgage disclosures.
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CFPB offers disclosure insights at FTC workshop
Posted Date: Thursday, September 29, 2016
In the Federal Trade Commission’s “Putting Disclosures to the Test” Workshop attendees heard from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Heidi Johnson, a research analyst with the Decision Making and Behavioral Studies Team. Read on for more details about what the bureau plans to discover more about disclosure and for key workshop takeaways from BallardSpahr’s Consumer Financial Services and Privacy and Data Security Groups.
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Appellate court examines TILA, RESPA, FDCPA claims
Posted Date: Thursday, October 20, 2016
The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals was tasked with reviewing the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland’s decision to dismiss a plaintiff’s Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) claim along with her TILA and RESPA claims. It was alleged that Freddie Mac failed to provide her with timely notice of its loan purchase and that Wells Fargo, as servicer of the loan, failed to provide notice when the deed of trust was assigned to it.
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Timing of QWRs at issue in Louisiana case
Posted Date: Thursday, October 20, 2016
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana examined Wells Fargo’s motion to dismiss in a case alleging that the bank violated TILA, RESPA and breach of contract for failing to respond to borrowers’ requests for information. The court weighed whether the plaintiffs’ qualified written requests (QWRs) were valid based on the time they were sent.
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Borrower retention leads to increased servicing value
Posted Date: Thursday, October 20, 2016
In its latest STRATMOR Insights report, STRATMOR Group says that increases in servicing value can be used to fund price concessions, further improving retention and enhancing a company’s competition edge. A portion of the value created by customer retention can be allocated to operational improvements that increase borrower satisfaction and hence, the likelihood that a borrower will become a repeat customer, the report said. Read on for all the details.
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MBA launches program for women
Posted Date: Thursday, October 20, 2016
A new networking platform for women in the real estate/finance industry has been launched by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). The platform is called “mPower,” which stands for MBA Promoting Opportunities for Women to Extend their Reach. Read on to find out how you can join.
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Report: Banks cut mortgage servicers by 50 percent in two years
Posted Date: Monday, October 17, 2016
In its latest quarterly U.S. RMBS Servicer Handbook, Fitch Ratings has reported that the average number of full-time mortgage servicing employees at banks has fallen by approximately 50 percent over a two year period. What is attributing to this trend, and what entities are picking up the servicing? Read on to find out.
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NAR proposes government-chartered organization for GSEs
Posted Date: Monday, October 17, 2016
National Association of Realtors President Tom Salomone has sent a letter to Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Melvin Watt that contained several recommendations for the agency’s proposal for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to adopt front-end credit risk transfer structures and other credit risk transfer policy issues. What four principles does the nation’s largest trade association recommend? Read on to find out.
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MBA: Applications ahead of 2015 pace
Posted Date: Monday, October 17, 2016
The Mortgage Bankers Association has released data from its Builder Application Survey, finding that the number of mortgage applications for new home purchases has increased between September 2015 and 2016. “After a strong start in 2016 and despite evidence of increasing costs, mortgage applications for new homes have maintained a pace modestly above 2015 rates,” MBA Vice President of Research and Economics Lynn Fisher said. Read on to learn more.
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HUD announces relief for disaster victims
Posted Date: Monday, October 17, 2016
To address the major flooding that occurred earlier this year, as well as destruction caused by Hurricane Matthew, the Department of Housing and Urban Development has announced two project to support victims. The presidentially approved assistance includes public infrastructure repairs as well as a moratorium on certain foreclosures. Read on for more details about which areas will be eligible for relief.
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CFPB orders largest CU to pay up for UDAAP violations
Posted Date: Monday, October 17, 2016
In case you thought the CFPB’s functions were going to slow down to a halt after PHH Corp. v. CFPB came out last week, think again. The CFPB has entered into a consent order with Navy Federal Credit Union – the largest credit union in the U.S. – after determining that the company committed deceptive and unfair acts in violation of UDAAP. Read on for more details on what the credit union did, and how the bureau came to its conclusions.
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Is a Facebook Like a violation of RESPA?
Posted Date: Thursday, October 13, 2016
Before you click that little thumbs-up sign to “Like” a post on Facebook, consider this: It could lead to a violation of RESPA and other anti-steering laws. Marx Sterbcow of Sterbcow Law Group and Jennifer Felten, principal owner of RELAW, APC and the attorney representative for California’s Department of Business Oversight advisory committee, gave RESPA News all the details.
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HUD announces approach to insurer disparate impact liability
Posted Date: Thursday, October 13, 2016
The Department of Housing and Urban Development has issued a statement within the Federal Register addressing how it will approach disparate impact liability for discriminatory insurance practices. In response to a court mandate, HUD provided two primary justifications (“a reasoned explanation”) for its decision. Read on for more details.
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PHH is out, CFPB is unconstitutionally structured
Posted Date: Tuesday, October 11, 2016
The Columbia District Court of Appeals has ruled that the single-director structure at the CFPB is unconstitutionally structured. The court has also released decisions regarding the interpretation of RESPA Section 8, finding that the CFPB’s retroactive application of new RESPA Section 8 interpretations violated due process, and (4) three-year RESPA statute of limitations applies to CFPB action.”
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Industry survivor shares her story
Posted Date: Tuesday, October 11, 2016
For the fifth consecutive year, October Research, LLC is raising money for the Stefanie Spielman Fund for Breast Cancer Research at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center –Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute. 10 percent of revenue from new subscriptions to all of our publications will be donated to the fund through Oct. 17. To help us with this worthy cause, industry friend Leslie Wyatt, a breast cancer survivor, shared her story.
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OIG sets out CFPB’s top management challenges
Posted Date: Monday, October 10, 2016
A letter from the Office of the Inspector to CFPB Director Richard Cordray offers the office’s view of the top management challenges facing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Read on to find out what those are, and what the inspector general’s office recommends for the bureau.
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FHFA details GSE goals for FY 2017
Posted Date: Monday, October 10, 2016
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has released its annual performance plan for fiscal year 2017. The report details three strategic goals: Ensure safe and sound regulated entities; ensure liquidity, stability and access in housing finance; and manage the government-sponsored enterprises’ (GSEs) ongoing conservatorships. Read on for details of how it expects to accomplish the goals.
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RESPRO announces publication of latest RESPA Guide
Posted Date: Monday, October 10, 2016
RESPRO - a national non-profit trade association that aims to help its members and the industry to efficiently offer affiliated services through subsidiaries, joint ventures and strategy partnerships - has published a pocket guide titled RESPA Guide to Referral Fees: Do’s & Don’ts for Salespersons. Read on for more details.
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CFPB approves new URLA, data collection on race and origin
Posted Date: Monday, October 10, 2016
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced in the Federal Register that it approved Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s new Uniform Residential Loan Application and that creditors covered under HMDA can begin collecting data on the race and ethnicity of applicants, starting Jan. 1, 2017. The announcement came soon after the FFIEC released the HMDA data for 2015. What are the key findings from last year’s HMDA reporters? Read on to find out.
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The deference dilemma: Which rule do you follow?
Posted Date: Thursday, October 6, 2016
There are laws, regulations, interpretative letters and policy statements, cases and consent orders, as well as oral responses to inquiries – but not all of these forms of compliance guidance are given the same amount of weight. What is an industry to do? RESPA News delves into how agency deference leads to confusion.
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NAR details cause of closing delays, CD errors
Posted Date: Thursday, October 6, 2016
TRID has been effective for over a year and the results are in: The National Association of Realtors has released a report detailing the rates and most prominent cause of closing delays as well as the most common errors found on the Closing Disclosure. What are Realtors trying to tell your clients? Read on to find out.
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Cybersecurity highlights the need for government, industry collaboration
Posted Date: Thursday, September 29, 2016
With hackers and other cyber adversaries constantly deploying new and evolving methods to exploit cybersecurity risks, industry players and their regulators need to work together, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker said at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s 5th annual Cybersecurity Summit. But are businesses focusing on the right areas of risk? How is the regulatory landscape really affecting liability? Read on for more details from the summit, as well as important insights from Wells Fargo’s 2016 Network Security and Data Privacy Study and Alston & Bird LLP.
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MBA whitepaper envisions post-HAMP loan modifications
Posted Date: Thursday, September 29, 2016
After the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) terminates, there will be a need for servicers to be able to provide loss mitigation under a cohesive framework, the Mortgage Bankers Association said. The association has issued a whitepaper proposing 10 core principles for a universal loss mitigation plan. Read on for details about the paper, One Mod: Principles for Post-HAMP Loan Modifications.
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FHA to offer extension for HECM servicing fee set-asides
Posted Date: Thursday, September 29, 2016
The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) is extending the Oct. 3, 2016, effective date for revisions to the Servicing Fee Set-Aside compounding interest rate (growth rate) for the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) program, as set out in Mortgagee Letter 2016-10. Read on to learn more about the effective dates for the other sections of the letter as well as the formula required for determining Servicing Fee Set-Aside amounts.
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FTC details online lead generation expectations
Posted Date: Monday, September 26, 2016
The Federal Trade Commission has issued a report detailing the findings from its “Follow the Lead” Workshop. The commission heard from various industry players about the benefits and risks of using online lead generators. According to BallardSpahr, the paper is likely to inform the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s expectations as well. Find out what you need to know.
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Closing times remain elevated, report says
Posted Date: Monday, September 26, 2016
Ellie Mae has released its latest Origination Insight Report, reporting that the average closing time for all loans remained at 46 days for the third consecutive month. Since TRID became effective nearly a year ago, the time to close has been elevated. Read on to find out what else Ellie Mae had to report.
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Auto title firms named in CFPB administrative actions
Posted Date: Monday, September 26, 2016
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has filed individual administrative lawsuits against five auto title lenders in Arizona for allegedly failing to disclose the annual percentage rate in their online advertisements about the loans. Find out which companies have been charged and what the administrative process within the bureau entails.
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HUD settles FHA disparate impact claim in Mississippi
Posted Date: Monday, September 26, 2016
The Department of Housing and Urban Development has reached a settlement with the city of Ridgeland, Miss., resolving allegations that a recent ordinance was motivated by racial animus and created a discriminatory effect on the city’s African-American residents, a violation of the Fair Housing Act. Learn more about the ordinance and settlement terms.
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Durbin aims bill at TILA, student borrowing
Posted Date: Monday, September 26, 2016
Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), the namesake behind the Dodd-Frank amendment that limits retailers’ debit card processing fees, has introduced the Know Before You Owe Private Education Loan Act (S. 3347). The bill would amend the Truth in Lending Act (TILA) to require creditors to obtain certification from institutions of higher education before issuing private student loans.
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RESPRO Live: This is just round one of TRID changes
Posted Date: Thursday, September 22, 2016
Brace yourself for the “daughter of TRID,” one attorney said at RESPRO’s 2016 Fall Seminar. Not only are the CFPB’s proposed amendments to the mortgage disclosure rule going to cause another wave of expansive systems changes, there is a strong likelihood that other proposed rulemakings will come out in the future. Read on for more live coverage.
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Texas court decides if spouse is borrower, debtor
Posted Date: Wednesday, September 21, 2016
Linda Denise Smith brought an action related to the servicing, loan modification and foreclosure proceedings on her late husband’s mortgage. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Sherman Division was tasked with determining whether to follow the magistrate judge’s recommendations and whether Smith had standing. Read on to learn more.
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Prison time in largest mortgage modification scheme ever charged
Posted Date: Wednesday, September 21, 2016
U.S. District Court Judge John F. Keenan from the Southern District of New York has sentenced Dionysius Fiumano to 16 years in prison for helping to orchestrate a mortgage modification scheme through which he and his co-conspirators defrauded 30,000 homeowners out of approximately $31 million for mortgage assistance they did not receive. Read on for more details.
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Regions latest to settle False Claims Act charges
Posted Date: Wednesday, September 21, 2016
“Mortgage lenders that participate in the FHA insurance program must follow the requirements intended to safeguard its integrity and to protect homeowners,” warned Benjamin C. Mizer, head of the Department of Justice’s Civil Division. Regions Bank has agreed to pay $52.4 million to settle allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by originating, underwriting and endorsing FHA-insured loans that did not meet government requirements.
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Attorneys discuss state class-action defenses under Spokeo
Posted Date: Wednesday, September 21, 2016
The Supreme Court’s decision in Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins has been regarded a victory for industry players seeking to dismiss class action lawsuits that allege bare technical violations when plaintiffs can’t establish a concrete injury-in-fact. Some previously expressed concerns that quit exits from federal court pursuant to Spokeo may lead to state-court class actions instead. Sidley Austin LLP’s Angela Zambrano and Robert Velevis begged to differ, at least when it comes to the state of Texas. Read on to learn more.
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