On May 31, 2023, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) published a draft Mortgagee Letter (ML) titled “Proposed Payment Supplement Partial Claim.” The draft ML proposes use of available partial claims funds to create a new loss mitigation option to assist struggling borrowers.

Generally, a partial claim is an interest-free subordinate loan issued by

Three years after it began, the presidentially declared COVID-19 national emergency is officially over. On April 10, 2023, President Biden signed H. J. Res. 7, officially ending the COVID-19 national emergency a month earlier than anticipated. For mortgage servicers who had been led to believe that the national emergency would remain in place for another

On Thursday, September 22, 2022, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a new request for information (RFI) regarding mortgage servicing, potentially opening the door for much-needed regulatory reforms. The RFI is focused on inquiries regarding refinances and, more generally, ways to streamline short and long-term loss mitigation options. It includes 37 specific requests, allowing

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a focal point for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) – especially with regard to mortgage servicers and loss mitigation programs. In its Fall Supervisory Highlights, the CFPB noted the increase in borrowers needing loss mitigation assistance in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, and cited mortgage servicers for two

The CFPB’s New COVID-19 Procedural Safeguard Rules Pose Significant Compliance Challenges for Mortgage ServicersJust two short months after the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced its COVID-19 mortgage servicing final rule, the effective date of August 31, 2021, is here. As we noted in our detailed breakdown of the final rule and corresponding webinar, the final rule poses new risks and challenges for mortgage servicers attempting to

HUD Announces New COVID-19 Recovery Loss Mitigation OptionsIn a bid to avoid a wave of COVID-19-related foreclosures, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) published Mortgagee Letter 2021-18 to lenders and servicers on July 23, 2021, that will allow borrowers with loans insured by the Federal Housing Agency (FHA) to extend the term of their mortgages and lock in lower monthly

Detailed Breakdown of the CFPB’s COVID-19 Mortgage Servicing Final RuleWith the release of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s COVID-19 mortgage servicing final rule and an August 31, 2021, effective date that will be here before we know it, the race is on for servicers to digest the law’s new requirements and prohibitions and then implement them. This will not be an easy task.

As

CFPB Releases COVID-19 Mortgage Servicing Final RuleOn June 28 2021, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released its much-anticipated mortgage servicing final rule related to COVID-19. This rulemaking amends Regulation X and, as expected, largely tracks the proposal that the Bureau issued in early April 2021 and that we wrote about shortly thereafter. The new rules will become effective on August 31,

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

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