Massachusetts Amends Community Investment Provisions
Massachusetts has recently amended its statutory provisions relating to Mortgage Lender Community Investment. The amendments are effective as of July 29, 2016.
Loss Mitigation Efforts
The criterion by which the Commissioner is to evaluate a mortgage lender’s performance has been expanded to include loss mitigation efforts. Specifically, the Commissioner will consider the mortgage lender’s attempts to work with delinquent mortgagors to resolve delinquencies, considering such factors as the number and timeliness of loan modifications and the extent to which such modifications actually cure defaults and prevent foreclosures.
Service Test
While the service test set out in 209 CMR 54.23 has not changed, the application of the provision has been narrowed. It now excludes mortgage lenders that have made fewer than one hundred home mortgage loans in Massachusetts in the last calendar year from its scope.
Community Development Services
The final amendment allows the Commissioner to consider the extent to which a mortgage lender has provided community development services when assigning a service performance rating.
For the full text of 209 CMR 54.00, please refer to: http://www.mass.gov/ocabr/docs/dob/209cmr54-00-final-amend-07292016.pdf
Elizabeth Dailey, JD, is a Regulatory Compliance Director with CLA. She is a graduate of the University of New Hampshire and earned her juris doctor at New England Law. She is admitted to the Massachusetts Bar.
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