Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray continues to tell the mortgage industry and its allies in Congress that the CFPB will not look the other way while the industry grapples with implementation of the integrated mortgage disclosure rule. The director’s latest official rebuff was delivered in a recent letter to Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-MO, who has been pressing the director for some kind of an enforcement grace period. Cordray historically has been...

In another display of multijurisdictional cooperation, the CFPB and the Maryland Attorney General last week brought an enforcement action against a Maryland-based title company and its executives, alleging they participated in a mortgage kickback scheme, trading cash and marketing services in exchange for referrals. The complaint names Genuine Title, LLC, as well as Jay Zukerberg, Brandon Glickstein, Gary Klopp, Adam Mandelberg, William Peterson, and Angela Pobletts, along with a number of limited-liability companies controlled by certain defendants. The CFPB and Maryland allege that Zukerberg and Glickstein developed and operated schemes to give loan officers marketing services and cash payments in exchange for referrals of title work. The kickback schemes violated the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, which prohibits giving a ...

The mortgage industry has just under 100 days until the do-or-die deadline of August 1 kicks in for compliance with the CFPB’s integrated disclosure rule under the Truth in Lending Act and the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, otherwise known as the TRID. And as the new lending environment approaches, industry anxieties are getting stronger and more specific in nature. “The primary concerns that I am hearing are about the inability to reset the fee tolerances when the closing date is significantly delayed, which many fear will require lenders to start over and scuttle closings, and the lack of guidance for wholesale lenders who work with brokers,” said Benjamin Olson, counsel in the Washington, DC, office of the BuckleySandler law ...

David Silberman, associate director of research, markets and regulations at the CFPB, told members of Congress recently that the bureau will continue to work with the mortgage industry as it implements and adapts to the pending integrated disclosure rule under the Truth in Lending Act and the Real Estate Settlement and Procedures Act. “The bureau’s work supporting implementation of the integrated disclosure rule does not end with the effective date of the integrated disclosure rule,” Silberman told the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit recently. “We expect to continue working with industry, consumers, and other stakeholders to answer questions, provide guidance, and evaluate any issues industry and consumers experience as the integrated disclosure rule is implemented.” ...

FFIEC Issues Revised Interagency Examination Procedures for Compliance with the TRID. The Task Force on Consumer Compliance of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council recently put out new interagency examination procedures for the Truth in Lending Act (TILA), as implemented by Regulation Z, and the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), as implemented by Regulation X. These procedures reflect CFPB amendments to Regulations Z and X published in the Federal Register in December 2013 and February 2015. Most of the changes to the procedures relate to the integrated mortgage disclosure requirements under TILA and RESPA, commonly referred to as the “TRID” requirements. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency Bulletin 2015-27 makes available on the OCC website the revised interagency ...

The odds that the CFPB will publicly announce or tacitly concede some degree of soft enforcement of its integrated disclosure rule, known as TRID, may have improved recently when two Republican Congressmen called on the bureau to give the mortgage industry such a break when the rule kicks in Aug. 1, 2015. “We strongly encourage you to make the August 1, 2015, to December 31, 2015, timeframe a ‘hold harmless’ period of restrained enforcement and liability,” said Reps. Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-MO, and Randy Neugebauer, R-TX, in a letter recently sent to CFPB Director Richard Cordray. “This would allow all parties to better understand the changes associated with TRID and help ensure consumer confidence and stability in the nation's housing market,” ...

Small nonbank mortgage lender groups and other industry representatives once again took the opportunity provided by sympathetic Republicans in Congress to express their anxiety about being able to comply with the pending integrated disclosure rule from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau when it kicks in Aug. 1, 2015. They echoed a call made late last month by Reps. Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-MO, and Randy Neugebauer, R-TX, for the CFPB to institute a ...

Some of the top mortgage lenders in the United States plan to move up their consumer disclosure- related processes even more than the CFPB is requiring under its integrated disclosure rule, which takes effect Aug. 1, 2015. It looks like they are just trying to be conservative and provide a bit of a cushion, at least in the initial transition period to a revamped disclosure regime. Bob Kelly, head of Truth in Lending Act/Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act implementation at Bank of America, told Inside the CFPB, “One thing that I think the CFPB sought to really have is that customers know before they owe. From a customer perspective, they often felt that the process to close was hurried and ...

It’s Time to Scale Back Dodd-Frank, Industry Says. With a new Republican majority now in power and calling the shots on Capitol Hill, the industry consultants at The Collingwood Group recently asked mortgage industry officials what they thought the new Congress could do to bolster the housing market. Their answer? Rein in Dodd-Frank. “Although just fewer than 50 percent of respondents selected ‘repeal Dodd-Frank’ or ‘abolish the CFPB,’ the comments submitted clearly indicate that these industry insiders prefer a tempered approach with reasonable modifications to these two reactionary reform measures stemming from the crisis,” Collingwood said. “Many respondents stated that the Dodd-Frank Act should be revised to remove barriers to innovation and to reduce the cost of manufacturing a mortgage.” ...

The integrated disclosure rule from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau continues to shake up the mortgage industry months before it even takes effect. Particularly unsettled are settlement agents, who hope they continue to stay relevant in the new world of mortgage originations, but fear their role will be diminished if not rendered obsolete. “The lender is ceding less authority to the closing agent but they are still letting them close the transactions with greater supervision,” said one industry insider. “Could that change? There is a fear it might, but that is not how it is now.” Joseph Ventrone, vice president for regulatory and industry relations at the National Association of Realtors, put...