The CFPB issued a final rule last week that finalizes the April clarifications made to its ability-to-repay and mortgage servicing rules. Among other things, the final rule clarifies and amends how several factors can be used to calculate a consumers debt-to-income ratio. Such factors include a consumers employment record and income, business credit reports and other documents relating to self-employed consumers, Social Security income, and non-employment related income such as from a trust or rental property. The final...
Debt collection practices are now fully and firmly on the CFPBs radar. Last week, the bureau warned all companies under its jurisdiction that they will be held accountable for unlawful conduct in collecting a consumers debts. In the first of two bulletins, the CFPB makes clear that any entity subject to the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010, whether a third-party collector or a creditor collecting its own debts, can be held accountable for any unfair, deceptive or abusive practices in collecting a consumers debts...
The CFPB and five other federal financial regulatory agencies issued a proposed rule last week that would create exemptions from certain appraisal requirements for a subset of higher-priced mortgage loans.Under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, mortgages are deemed higher-priced if they are secured by a consumers home and have interest rates above a certain threshold. The proposed rule would exempt the following three types of HPMLs from Dodd-Frank appraisal requirements: certain loans secured by...
The Mortgage Bankers Association and the Housing Policy Council of the Financial Services Roundtable provided the CFPB with a list of priority implementation items on the ability-to-repay/ qualified mortgage rules Appendix Q, which provides the standards to make the 43 percent debt-to-income determination required by the general QM standard. We do not believe rigid adherence to deadlines should result in a rule that is unnecessarily difficult to implement or unduly limits credit for consumers, the trade group reps...
The CFPBs 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 bureaus 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...
The CFPB has released the first version of the 2013 Dodd-Frank Mortgage Rules Readiness Guide, which provides a set of criteria and preparation procedures for residential mortgage lenders and originators. The guides purposes are to help regulated entities comply with the mortgage rules, highlight key issue areas that may be closely examined during a review, and focus the industry and examiners on key elements of a compliance management system that may warrant review, modification, or other enhancement. The guide...
Banking Industry Reps Ask CFPB to Delay Implementing Mortgage Rules. The CFPB should delay the January 2014 effective dates of several pending mortgage rules, a number of banking industry representatives said in a letter to CFPB Director Richard Cordray late last week. These rules will dramatically refocus the entire lending process, wrote the American Bankers Association and their state association affiliates. Every participant in that process, from lenders to borrowers, service providers, appraisers, escrow agents, title...