By: Andrew C. Glass and Roger L. Smerage
In an increasingly complex battle among the branches of the federal government, the Solicitor General recently urged the Supreme Court to deny certiorari in the appeal titled Township of Mount Holly, New Jersey v. Mt. Holly Gardens Citizens in Action, Inc., et al., No. 11-1507.
Members of the K&L Gates Consumer Financial Services Group will speak on key topics at the upcoming MBA Legal Issues and Regulatory Compliance Conference in Boca Raton, FL (May 19-22). Melanie Brody will discuss a topic on everyone’s radar — fair lending and disparate impact — on Tuesday morning (May 21) , with a repeat… Continue Reading
By: * Stacey L. Riggin
Ms. Riggin is not admitted to the practice of law.
On May 8, 2013, the Conference of State Bank Supervisors published release notes for a June 24, 2013 Nationwide Multistate Licensing System (“NMLS” or the “System”) upgrade which includes, among other changes, an advance filing feature that will permit state licensees to file advance notice of certain business changes electronically through the NMLS.
By: Jonathan D. Jaffe , Amanda D. Gossai
The CFPB recently released a Bulletin directed to residential mortgage servicers and subservicers (servicers).
By: Nanci L. Weissgold , Sean P. Mahoney , Gregory N. Blase
On January 24, 2013, the Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General (“AG”) issued guidance to the industry interpreting its debt collection regulations (“Regulations”) that became effective March 2, 2012.
By: Gregory N. Blase , Nanci L. Weissgold , Kerri M. Smith
Do regulations recently proposed by the Massachusetts Division of Banks disregard servicers’ duties under servicing agreements when considering borrowers for a modification under the Commonwealth’s new mandatory modification review statute?
By: Phillip L. Schulman, Nathan Pysno
A recent change to the HUD Office of the Inspector General Audit Guide has removed the requirement that all FHA investing mortgagees submit reports on internal controls and compliance.
By: Phillip L. Schulman, Krista Cooley
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s recently announced that an independent actuarial review of the FHA Mutual Mortgage Insurance (MMI) Fund found that the Fund’s capital reserve ratio has fallen to -1.44%, which represents a negative economic value of $16.3 billion.
By: Holly Spencer Bunting , Kathryn M. Baugher
In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, both the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”) and the Rural Housing Service (“RHS”) have issued guidance intended to help homeowners with government insured or guaranteed loans who were affected by the storm.
By: Phillip L. Schulman, Krista Cooley
On Friday, November 16, 2012, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development released its 2012 Annual Report to Congress and announced that the FHA Mutual Mortgage Insurance (MMI) Fund suffered a $16.3 billion deficit.
Is a refusal to make or buy residential mortgage loans from jurisdictions that seize loans through eminent domain a federal crime or a reasoned response to excessive government intervention?
On August 6, 2012, President Obama signed into law another extension to the protections from nonjudicial foreclosure afforded to members of the military under the federal Servicemembers’ Civil Relief Act (Honoring America’s Veterans and Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act of 2012, or the “Act”).
For those who wondered how the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (the “Bureau”) would seek to convert portions of the global foreclosure settlement into federal law, last Friday’s proposed servicing rules provide an answer.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Housing Service (RHS) today published a final rule implementing the new annual fee that will be charged on all RHS-guaranteed single family housing loans obligated on or after October 1, 2011.
By: Phoebe S. Winder
In a long-anticipated decision, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (“SJC”) ruled in Eaton v. Federal National Mortgage Ass’n, 2012 WL 2349008 (June 22, 2012) (“Eaton”) that when conducting a non-judicial foreclosure in Massachusetts, a foreclosing entity must not only hold the mortgage – it also must hold the note or be authorized to act on behalf of the note holder.
By: Krista Cooley, Rebecca Lobenherz
The National Servicing Standards, outlined in the March 2012 Global Foreclosure Settlement, are difficult to reconcile with the already stringent servicing requirements in place for the Federal Housing Administration’s (“FHA”) single family loan insurance program.
By: Steven M. Kaplan, Rebecca Lobenherz
Force-placing insurance could be a hazardous practice if not done appropriately. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) has made force-placed insurance a main focus of its desired mortgage servicing reforms and new rules on the issue are expected to be released by the CFPB as soon as this week.
By: Nanci L. Weissgold, Morey E. Barnes Yost
Buried deep in the 40-plus pages of “Servicing Standards” that are part of the recently announced global foreclosure settlement agreement (the “Agreement”) are two bullets on a topic that could impact thousands: tenants’ rights.
By: Stephanie C. Robinson, Kerri M. Smith
At what point is it appropriate after a borrower defaults to initiate foreclosure proceedings? As soon as the borrower defaults?
Given the reported violations of the provisions of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (“SCRA”) by some servicers, and the attendant enforcement and civil actions against those servicers, state and federal regulators clearly felt compelled to impose significant SCRA-related requirements on the nation’s five largest residential mortgage loan servicers (the “Servicers”) in the recent global settlement agreements (the “Agreements”) entered into between those regulators and Servicers, described here.
By: David A. Tallman
The alleged failure of servicers to adequately supervise the activities of their foreclosure and loss mitigation vendors and other service providers is one of the central criticisms levelled by federal and state regulators against residential mortgage servicers.
By: Kristie D. Kully
The servicing standards imposed on the five largest mortgage loan servicers by the recent global settlement agreement with state and federal regulators, described here, continue to pile on the “SPOC” requirements.
In many financial service relationships, dissatisfied customers can solve ongoing customer service deficiencies by simply taking their business to a competing provider.
By: Nanci L. Weissgold, Morey E. Barnes Yost
As scrutiny of default servicing practices provided significant impetus for the recently announced global foreclosure settlement agreement (the “Agreement”), it is no surprise that the Agreement prescribes extensive standards to resolve issues with these practices.