At the tail end of the Biden administration, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) published Mortgagee Letter 2025-06, which was tilted Updates to Servicing, Loss Mitigation, and Claims. The 251-page mortgagee letter outlines various changes to FHA’s servicing requirements in Handbook 4000.1, such as updated requirements for forbearances and extending the availability of
On March 11, 2025, the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued a Geographic Targeting Order (GTO) aimed at disrupting drug trafficking and money laundering along the southwestern border. The GTO significantly lowers the Currency Transaction Reports (CTR) threshold from $10,000 to $200 for money service businesses (MSBs) operating in 30 zip codes across
With the recent developments at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), many mortgage lenders have been left wondering about the extent to which the CFPB will enforce federal laws governing the mortgage lending industry. Many industry participants expect a significant reduction in CFPB enforcement activity for the foreseeable future. While the states could ramp up
In a bit of a surprise development at the end of 2024, the United States Senate passed the Homebuyers Privacy Protection Act, which amends the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) to include specific restrictions on the use of trigger leads in the residential mortgage lending space. While industry groups applauded the Senate’s passage of
On January 7, 2025, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) officially revised its Defect Taxonomy (Final Defect Taxonomy) with the publication of Mortgagee Letter (ML) 2025-01 and the related attachment detailing those changes. The changes are effective as of January 15, 2025, and will be implemented in Appendix 8.0 of FHA Handbook 4000.1 at a later
On December 19, 2024, the Fair Housing Administration (FHA) and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) published a draft Mortgagee Letter proposing a new Optional Reimbursement Claim Alternative (ORCA) program. ORCA is intended to allow mortgagees to seek reimbursement for property tax and insurance payments the mortgagee advances on behalf of forward
On September 17, 2024, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) rulemaking board proposed new recordkeeping rules intended to bolster the FDIC’s ability to make deposit insurance determinations for accounts that are the product of a partnership between an FDIC-insured depository institution (IDI) and a financial technology company (fintech). However, despite the proposed rule’s focus on
Over the past month, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) has enacted and proposed several changes to its Defect Taxonomy. The Defect Taxonomy is contained in Appendix 8 to FHA Handbook 4000.1. The Defect Taxonomy was originally designed to allow FHA to characterize underwriting related errors in FHA mortgages. Now, if these recent changes are
Following a long wait, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) published a revised version of the Fair Housing Administration’s (FHA) handbook governing the origination and servicing of FHA loan products, including Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECMs, which are more commonly known as “reverse mortgages”). While the revisions in the new handbook are
Based on a recent report from the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC), nonbank mortgage companies (NMCs) need to prepare for additional regulatory scrutiny from both state and federal regulators. In the report, FSOC identifies NMCs as critical participants in both the residential mortgage origination and servicing industries. And in recognition of this distinction, FSOC believes