Mortgage lenders operating as a series limited liability company should reevaluate the structure in the wake of an enforcement action by the Department of Housing and Urban Development against an FHA lender alleging violation of FHA branch rules and the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act. A recent settlement agreement between HUD and Prospect Mortgage of Sherman Oaks, CA, could be the wake-up call for other mortgage companies that use a series limited liability company, or a series LLC, to originate FHA-insured loans, according to compliance experts. Lenders may have to decide whether to ...
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency made significant changes to a controversial proposed regulation it issued back in May to implement revised federal preemption standards regarding state mortgage and other consumer protection laws. The OCCs proposed rule to conform to Dodd-Frank Act preemption provisions was met with significant opposition from state regulators, consumer advocates, members of Congress and even the Department of Treasury, within which the agency functions as an independent bureau. One of the key disputes focused on the OCCs proposal to use a ...
Without clear, early implementation guidance from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, FHA mortgage lenders could start underwriting to the lower loan limits before the Oct. 1 effective date, limiting the origination of FHA loans, warned two real estate industry groups. Providing guidance to mortgage lenders on how to manage the transition from the current top-end amount of $729,750 to $625,500 for high-cost areas without disrupting FHA lending is critical, the Mortgage Bankers Association and the National Association of Home Builders wrote to HUD. Lenders manage their pipelines based on ...
To bolster some much-needed credibility and quality assurance for consumers seeking appraisals, the Federal Housing Finance Agency and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau should set minimum standards for states to apply in registering appraisal management companies, a recent Government Accountability Office report said. Partly in reaction to appraiser independence requirements, lenders have increasingly relied upon AMCs to perform certain functions, the GAO observed. Despite the increased use of AMCs, direct federal oversight of AMCs is limited because ...
JPMorgan Chase officials say they plan to liquidate the companys giant $154 billion mortgage portfolio to close to zero as it works through the banks mortgage losses and litigation of loan-servicing and foreclosure practices. During the companys earnings conference call with analysts, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon noted that the company will continue to reduce its mortgage holdings by 10 percent to 15 percent a year forever. Last year, the company reduced its mortgage holdings by $19.3 billion. JPMorgan reported earnings of ...
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Associate Director Raj Date told lawmakers earlier this month that mortgage servicing will be one of the CFPBs priorities as soon as its open for business. In particular, Date told lawmakers at a joint hearing of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations and the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit that the agency will begin addressing two structural problems in the mortgage servicing market, one of which is that the vast majority of borrowers do not get to choose their mortgage servicer...
The Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Spring 2011 regulatory agenda reveals the agency has drafted a proposed rule to synchronize current standards for ascertaining when a given housing practice that has a discriminatory effect on protected classes actually violates the Fair Housing Act. However, Richard Andreano, a partner in the Washington, DC, office of law firm Patton Boggs, took issue with HUD’s reference to harmonizing existing standards “because I think you would get
Lawmakers and regulators seem increasingly cognizant of the potential their actions to improve mortgage servicing may have to exacerbate the difficult environment servicers are confronting in terms of helping struggling homeowners, unclogging the backlog of housing inventory and complying with all necessary laws and regulations in the process. Industry representatives hope that awareness will keep policymakers from going overboard, but they remain anxious while multiple sets of potentially inconsistent and conflicting servicing standards are in play...
Mortgage servicers that have not yet contemplated adjusting their practices to conform to the principles illustrated in the consent decrees federal regulators issued earlier this year against 14 top servicers, as well as the June 30 guidance from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, better think again, and quickly, a leading industry attorney is recommending. I think the OCCs guidance is a clear statement of regulator expectations as to the performance of bank servicers, both in terms of looking back and addressing past issues and in creating an appropriate compliance structure going forward, Andrew Sandler, chairman of the BuckleySandler law firm, told Inside Regulatory Strategies. The expectation should be that other regulators, including the Federal Reserve and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, will have very similar sets of expectations...
The Department of Housing and Urban Development announced settlements last week with two mortgage lending-related entities over alleged violations of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act having to do with affiliates and fees. In one case, HUD alleged that title company Fidelity National Financial Inc., through its subsidiaries, paid fees for the referral of settlement service business in violation of Section 8 of RESPA...