Tag Archives: RESPA

After much anticipation, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued its final rule for new integrated mortgage disclosures, combining the overlapping disclosures required by the Truth in Lending Act (TILA) and the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA). The new rule will certainly change the landscape of the settlement services and mortgage lending industries as we know them.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) last week ordered a Missouri-based mortgage lender and its president to pay more than $80,000 for funneling illegal kickbacks in exchange for real estate referrals. According to CFPB's complaint filed in mid-January, Fidelity Financial Mortgage Corporation (FFMC) in 2010 entered into an agreement with a Missouri bank in which Fidelity would lease an office at the bank in exchange for business referrals.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is issuing a rule Wednesday requiring lenders to use its disclosure templates to lay out mortgage terms for borrowers. The new ""Know Before You Owe"" mortgage forms will replace existing federal disclosures, and the CFPB says they'll help consumers better understand their options, comparison shop for the best mortgage deals, and avoid costly surprises at closing.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released a Supervisory Highlights report Wednesday, providing an overview of its supervisory actions between July 2011 and September 2012. The agency found several instances in which financial institutions did not adhere to federal consumer financial laws. With regard to the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), the CFPB noted instances in which institutions did not properly disclose transaction costs and did not properly complete good faith estimates and HUD-1 settlement statements.

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor of Quicken Loans, Inc., Thursday, in a case that bars lenders from splitting settlement fees with third parties. The decision upholds an interpretation of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act that gives lenders leeway when it comes to charging fees. It rejects a longstanding HUD policy that interpreted the law to include a flat ban on unearned fees. Much of the contention surrounded previous guidance issued by HUD supporting the view that the legal framework prohibits lenders from charging unearned fees.

The new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) aims to avert at least one hitch in the home loan process that some market experts say started a whirlwind of mortgage delinquencies - ensuring consumers have a clear understanding of the cost associated with their mortgage. CFPB unveiled two prototypes for a new regulatory disclosure form Wednesday that the agency will begin testing this week. Each of the prototypes combines the two-page TILA disclosure and the three-page RESPA disclosure into a single, abbreviated form.

The Federal Reserve said this week that it ""does not expect"" to finalize three pending rule changes under TILA that would have mandated new consumer disclosure requirements for mortgage loans. The Fed began crafting the new regulations more than a year ago in response to claims that borrowers did not understand the terms of the loans they were signing. However, rulemaking authority for TILA and jurisdiction over consumer disclosures is scheduled to transfer to the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau within a few months.

Sirote & Permutt's mortgage banking group recently hosted its sixth annual REO Real Estate Legal Issues seminar for Alabama real estate agents who represent the firm's mortgage servicing clients. Topics included Alabama law as it relates to REO closings, title issues, manufactured housing, the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), and evictions.

Hartford National Title, Inc., a provider of title insurance and real estate closing services in Milford, Connecticut, has launched OneSourceQuote, a new good faith estimate (GFE) and HUD-1 title calculator, as a free online application. According to a statement from the company, OneSourceQuote was developed due to the lack of free, accurate title calculators available to mortgage brokers and retail lenders.

The Mortgage Bankers Association and six other industry groups sent a letter to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke Monday, voicing their concern that the Fed, which has jurisdiction over the Truth in Lending Act (TILA), and HUD, which oversees the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), will create regulatory rules that overlap. The Dodd-Frank Act created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which will be overseen by yet another agency, the Treasury, and will have regulatory authority over consumer disclosures.