A recent decision by a panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit interpreting the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) has significant – and possibly costly – implications for loan servicers and debt collectors seeking to collect on loans owed to or guaranteed by the United States. On April 24, the … Continue Reading
Part IV: Modifications Post-Discharge Welcome to Part IV of our series on servicing discharged mortgage debt. This part will discuss modifying a borrower’s loan post-discharge. (If you missed Part I, Part II or Part III, go ahead and catch up.) Part III discussed the legal ambiguity surrounding loan modifications when the borrower discharges personal liability in … Continue Reading
On October 17, 2018, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released its Fall 2018 rulemaking agenda. Among the items on the agenda was the CFPB’s planned issuance – by March 2019 – of a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) for the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). The goal of the NPRM is to address … Continue Reading
The Arkansas State Legislature modified the Fair Mortgage Lending Act in February to “comply with recent developments in Federal Law and other purposes.” Federal law was recently amended to allow for Temporary Mortgage Loan Originator (MLO) Authority as defined under the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act or S.2155. The “other purposes” reason … Continue Reading
Part III: Modifications Post-Discharge Welcome to Part III of our series on the servicing of discharged mortgage debt. This part will discuss modifying a borrower’s loan after a discharge. (If you missed Part I or Part II, go ahead and catch up.) Servicers and borrowers struggle with lack of clarity regarding the nature of the relationship … Continue Reading
On March 12, 2019, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued the Winter 2019 edition of its Supervisory Highlights report, detailing key examination findings that were discovered during the second half of 2018. The report covers a number of product lines, including automobile loan servicing, deposits and remittances, but spends the most time discussing issues uncovered … Continue Reading
The Ohio Division of Financial Institutions (DFI) recently provided the much-needed updates to the recent legislation that expanded the registration requirements under the Ohio Residential Mortgage Lending Act (RMLA). The bill, HB 489, was passed unanimously in December 2018 and signed by Gov. Kasich in his last days in office. The expanded RMLA will now … Continue Reading
Welcome to Part II of our series on the servicing of discharged mortgage debt (catch up on Part I). This part will discuss communications to discharged borrowers and evaluate various disclaimers that can be utilized. The only way to fully eliminate the risk of violating the bankruptcy discharge injunction is to cease all communications to … Continue Reading
Mortgage servicers are plagued by their nebulous relationships with the borrowers who discharge their personal liability in bankruptcy. Issues arise when the borrower whose debt has been discharged continues to engage with the mortgage servicer. These activities include making monthly payments and requesting and participating in loss mitigation. There are few, if any, bright line … Continue Reading
Following a recent trend in the financial services regulatory arena, Ohio recently passed legislation requiring mortgage servicers, including entities that merely hold mortgage servicing rights (MSRs), to obtain a Residential Mortgage Lending Act Certificate of Registration in the state. Substitute House Bill 489, which passed the legislature on December 5, 2018, and was signed by Gov. … Continue Reading
Mortgagees of Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (“HECMs,” more commonly known as reverse mortgages) obtained a significant victory in an important federal appellate court, which ruled last month that non-borrowing spouses are not protected from foreclosure by the statute authorizing the HECM program. In Estate of Jones v. Live Well Financial, Inc., the United States Court … Continue Reading
On September 21, 2018, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”)’s Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) completed a review of HUD’s partial claims program. In many ways, the title of the OIG audit report, “HUD Did Not Have Adequate Controls To Ensure That Partial Claim Notes for FHA Loans Were Properly Tracked for Future … Continue Reading
In a previous blog post, we examined the “mixed bag” result of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals opinion in ACA International v. Federal Communications Commission. The ACA International decision narrowed the scope of potential liability for businesses under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) by striking down inconsistent and overly broad portions of the … Continue Reading
As the effective date for the CFPB’s successor in interest and bankruptcy billing statement requirements quickly approaches, one question we’ve heard multiple times is whether a mortgage servicer is required to know when a confirmed successor in interest is in bankruptcy. The question stems from upcoming provisions in Regulations X and Z that will collectively … Continue Reading
On March 29, 2018, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released two important implementation tools that may help mortgage servicers ensure compliance with recent amendments to the mortgage servicing rules in Regulations X and Z. This release comes shortly after the CFPB published a set of Frequently Asked Questions that primarily addressed issues related to the … Continue Reading
