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 April 3, 2025, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced it will end the Veterans Affairs Servicing Purchase (VASP) program on May 1, 2025. This decision comes just shy of one year since the program’s inception. The VASP program was originally implemented as a rescue program to help veterans and their families after
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 December 17, 2024, amid a flurry of activity by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the agency released an Issue Spotlight discussing “problems with mortgage companies” that homeowners face “after divorce or [the] death of a loved one.” The report relies on consumer complaints that have been submitted through the CFPB’s complaint portal to
On December 5, 2024, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a joint letter directed at financial service providers to reinforce the importance of interest rate protections under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA). The letter underscores the necessity of compliance with these protections while offering practical guidance to
Bradley scored a significant victory in the Tennessee Supreme Court on November 14, 2024. In a long-awaited decision, the Tennessee Supreme Court clarified a long-standing inconsistency in Tennessee law with its opinion in Terry Case v. Wilmington Trust. In addition to ushering in a sea change concerning constitutional standing in the state —
On July 10, 2024, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released a proposal to amend the existing mortgage servicing rules in Regulation X. The substance of the proposal has attracted a lot of attention and deservedly so. If enacted, the proposed rule would completely overhaul the default servicing framework in Regulation X and institute mandatory
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
On Wednesday, July 10, 2024, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released its long-awaited and much anticipated proposal to amend Regulation X. As expected, the proposal focuses primarily on default servicing requirements and would impose an entirely new framework for regulating how loss mitigation is handled in the mortgage servicing industry. Other topics are