Photo of Jason R. Bushby

Jason Bushby provides regulatory compliance, examination, enforcement, and litigation assistance to a range of financial services clients across the country. He serves as counsel to the American Bankers Association and general counsel to the Alabama Consumer Finance Association. He is also a frequent speaker during webinars and trade association presentations on regulatory compliance issues.

CFPB Proposes COVID-19-Related Amendments to the Mortgage Servicing RulesOn April 5, 2021, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a proposal to amend the existing loss mitigation rules in Regulation X. As stated in the Bureau’s press release, the proposal is designed to “help prevent avoidable foreclosures as the emergency federal foreclosure protections expire.” To accomplish that goal, the proposed rule has a

What Does CA AB 3088 Mean for Mortgage Servicers? PART IILast year, our blog, What Does CA AB 3088 Mean for Mortgage Servicers?, examined some new and notable obligations California imposes on mortgage servicers, including requirements to provide forbearance denial notices. In that blog, we promised the publication of a Part II that further expanded upon CA AB 3088. In this Part II, we

When Do CARES Act Forbearance Rights and Foreclosure Moratoriums End?The March 2020 Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) contains a number of provisions that help borrowers with federally backed mortgage loans. Among these are forbearance protections for borrowers with single-family loans and multifamily loans. However, only one of the forbearance provisions has a clearly defined period when the rights are available.

COVID-19 Mortgage Servicing Trends Report: 2020 Year-End ReviewOh what a year it has been in the mortgage servicing world! In 2020, our COVID-19 Compliance Roundtable met weekly to discuss emerging compliance issues under the CARES Act, federal agency guidance, state laws and orders, and the many operational hurdles regarding residential mortgage loans that servicers are facing. We’ve summarized the key trends and

GSE Deferral Programs Continue to Pose Risk for Mortgage ServicersIn mid May 2020, we highlighted that the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (GSEs) COVID-19 payment deferral programs put mortgage servicers at risk of violating some of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) Mortgage Servicing Rules in Regulation X. When originally introduced, the GSEs’ COVID-19 payment deferral programs seemed to require servicers to offer a

CFPB Issues Interim Final Rule to Enable COVID-19 Payment Deferral OptionsOn May 14, 2020, shortly after the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac COVID-19 payment deferral options were announced, we warned mortgage servicers about the legal risks associated with offering payment deferral programs to borrowers impacted by COVID-19. A little over a month later, on June 23, 2020, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released an

CFPB Issues No-Action Letter Template for an Online Loss Mitigation PlatformOn May 22, 2020, the CFPB issued a No-Action Letter (NAL) Template to a software company utilizing an internet-based platform for submission and processing of loss mitigation applications. Mortgage servicers may use the NAL Template to apply for NALs if they wish to implement the web-based loss mitigation platform. The CFPB also issued a statement

Can Mortgage Servicers Legally Offer the GSEs’ COVID-19 Payment Deferral Options?On Wednesday, May 13, 2020, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac unveiled new retention workout options that were jointly developed and “specifically designed to help borrowers impacted by a hardship related to COVID-19 return their mortgage to a current status.” The government-sponsored enterprises’ (GSEs) highly anticipated new COVID-19 payment deferral will allow servicers to defer up

Ginnie Mae Announces PTAP Assistance for IssuersIn an All Participants Memo dated April 10, 2020 (APM 20-03), Ginnie Mae announced that it revised and expanded its issuer assistance programs in Chapter 34 of the Mortgage Backed Securities Guide (MBS Guide) to include a Pass-Through Assistance Program (PTAP) in response to the COVID-19 national emergency declaration. The program announced in APM 20-03

Federal Financial Agencies Announce Flexibility in Enforcing Certain Mortgage Servicing Rules in Response to COVID-19On Friday, April 3, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the State Banking Regulators released a joint statement announcing increased flexibility in the agencies’ regulation