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Rural Refinance Pilot Program Launched for “Hardest Hit” States
by Anna DeSimonePresident & Founder Rural Housing Service (RHS) released RD Announcement #4634 on April 2, 2012 to announce its Rural Refinance Pilot. The program is designed to assist existing Section 502 borrowers both direct and guaranteed loans in order to refinance their homes with greater speed and ease. The pilot program is available […]
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CFPB Proposes New Mortgage Servicing Rules
by Anna De SimonePresident & Founder On April 9, 2012 the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released an outline of rules under consideration to help protect mortgage borrowers from being hit by costly surprises or getting the runaround from their mortgage servicer. The CFPB plans to formally propose rules this summer and finalize them in […]
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CFPB Addresses Payments to Loan Originators’ Qualified Plans
by Marissa Aquila Blundell, Esq. Senior Vice President & General Counsel On April 2, 2012, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued Bulletin 2012-02, which presents guidance regarding loan originator compensation and qualified profit sharing. The specific question covered is whether and how the current loan originator compensation restrictions affect employer contributions to qualified profit sharing, […]
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Best Practices for Borrower Ability to Repay Rules
by Anna DeSimonePresident & Founder About one year ago, I published an article entitled Borrower Repayment Ability on the Radar. The article highlighted the “ability-to-repay” requirement of the Qualified Mortgage (QM) under Dodd-Frank. The article included a matrix of all U.S. states as of that had passed legislation requiring mortgage lenders to determine the borrower’s […]
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Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Finalizes Mortgage Origination Examination Procedures
by Marissa Aquila Blundell, Esq.Senior Vice President & General Counsel On January 11, 2012, the CFPB updated its Supervision and Examination Manual to include its Mortgage Origination Examination Procedures. Previously, the CFPB released its general examination procedures for large depository institutions and non-bank financial services providers which stressed the importance of an effective compliance management […]
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FinCEN Requires Anti Money Laundering and SAR Filing for Non-bank Lenders
by Anna DeSimonePresident & Founder On February 7, 2012, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, finalized regulations that require non-bank residential mortgage lenders and originators to establish anti-money laundering (AML) programs and file suspicious activity reports (SARs). This requirement parallels FinCEN’s requirements of depository institutions and continues […]
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Fannie Mae Launches “EarlyCheck” Business Process
by Anna DeSimonePresident & Founder As a continuing part of its Loan Quality Initiative (LQI) Fannie Mae has launched a new optional service called EarlyCheck.™ EarlyCheck will enable lenders to identify and correct potential eligibility and/or data issues as early in the loan origination process as possible. The program is available across all underwriting methods […]
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Fannie Mae Updates Refi Plus and DU Refi Plus
by Ellen BrodyAssistant Vice President Fannie Mae (FNMA) recently announced Selling Guide updates in SEL-2011-13 (12/20/11) which reflect many changes detailed in prior Announcement SEL-2011-12, Updates to Refi Plus and Du Refi Plus. The Selling Guide has also been updated to reflect clarifications/changes in regard to Refi Plus and DU Refi Plus loans. Of note […]
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Fannie Mae Publishes Recommendations for Quality Control
by Anna DeSimonePresident & Founder In October 2011, Fannie Mae published a new booklet named “Beyond the Guide” that provides a more comprehensive description for recommended best practices for pre- and post-funding quality control. Since launching the Loan Quality Initiative (LQI) in September of 2010, Fannie Mae has listened to feedback from both lenders and […]
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HUD Proposes Amendments to Fair Housing Act’s Discrimination Standards
by Margaret Wright, Esq.Assistant VP & Senior Counsel The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has issued a proposed rule amending the Fair Housing Act in order to “establish uniform standards for determining when a housing practice with a discriminatory effect violates” the Act. The proposed amendments arise from the need for uniformity of […]
