Commentary

Counsel's Corner is an ongoing series in which DS News talks with default servicing attorneys around the country about the most pressing issues facing the default servicing industry. This installment features Neil Sherman, Vice President and Managing Attorney of Detroit-based law firm Schneiderman & Sherman.

The U.S. Midterm Elections have been over for less than a week, and already Democrats are circling the wagons to protect what will certainly be a top priority on the Republicans' list of changes to make – the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

Now that the Republicans will have a majority in both the House and the Senate and a Republican-led Senate Banking Committee in January, it has been widely speculated that GSE reform will be near the top of their to-do list. Richard Shelby (R-Alabama) will become the new chair of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee in January. He previously served as the committee chair from 2003 to 2007 and is a longtime proponent of reforming the conservatorship model.

Speaking at the 56th annual meeting of the National Association for Business Economics (NABE) on Monday, U.S. Department of Treasury Deputy Secretary Sarah Bloom Raskin said she does not see the nation's growing problem of student loan debt leading to an economic meltdown – and student loan debt may not be affecting a borrower's ability to buy a home, depending on that borrower's financial situation.

The first bill, Senate Bill 2664, sponsored in the Senate by Sen. John Mulroe (D-Chicago) and Rep. Sam Yingling (D-Hainesville), is designed to prevent abuses by condominium associations by limiting the fees that can be applied to the buyer of a foreclosed property and to facilitate the sale of the property to the new buyer.

In order to qualify as an exempt employee under the Fair Labor Standards Act, an employer must show, among other factors, that the employee’s primary duty is “the performance of office or non-manual work directly related to the management or general business operations of the employer or the employer’s customer.”

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency states explicitly in an October 2013 bulletin guidance for risk management that it "expects more comprehensive and rigorous oversight and management of third-party relationships that . . . could cause a bank to face significant risk if the third party fails to meet expectations."

Seeking to "gain greater insight into issues about access to credit," the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced the launch of a rulemaking process to change reporting requirements under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA). The new reporting requirements could have unintended consequences for both mortgage servicers, and legal teams who assess discriminatory lending practices.

Florida courts have been very aggressive in moving the foreclosure cases pending on their dockets, especially the aged cases. The Courts’ tool of choice to obtain file movement is the Case Management Conference (CMC). At the court-ordered CMC, the Court will hear and decide all pending motions and, if the case is at issue, set the case for a trial to be held within a 45 to 60 day timeframe.

A discussion of leadership has to include the question: What skills does a leader need to have in order to be effective? Leaders need to be able to manage change, and in order to manage change, leaders have to navigate a myriad of social relationships.