As previously reported, in July 2020 the CFPB filed the first ever redlining complaint against a nonbank mortgage company, Townstone Mortgage (Townstone), under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) and Consumer Financial...more
In Mortgagee Letter 2023-01, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) addressed the use of the revised Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac single-family loan documents with FHA Title II forward mortgage loans. As...more
The final rule issued by the Federal Reserve Board to implement the LIBOR Act by establishing default rules for benchmark replacements in certain contracts that use LIBOR as a reference rate was published in today’s Federal...more
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recently issued a draft Mortgagee Letter on reconsideration of value (ROV) policies in connection with appraisals for FHA insured mortgage loans. The draft Mortgagee...more
The CFPB recently addressed mortgage financing options in view of the current higher mortgage loan interest rate environment. The CFPB comments on adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) loans, temporary buydowns, home equity lines...more
Following the adoption by the Federal Reserve Board of a final rule under the Adjustable Interest Rate (LIBOR) Act, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have announced replacement indices for their legacy London Interbank Offered Rate...more
In Mortgagee Letter 2022-22 dated December 15, 2022, the FHA announced updates to its Single Family Housing Policy Handbook (HUD Handbook 4000.1) that modifies its policies governing conflicts of interest and dual employment....more
The CFPB recently addressed mortgage financing options in view of the current higher mortgage loan interest rate environment. The CFPB comments on adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) loans, temporary buydowns, home equity lines...more
The CFPB recently published a notice advising of the availability of an updated version of the What You Should Know about Home Equity Lines of Credit booklet. The updated booklet is dated August 2022, and replaces the...more
The CFPB and Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) recently published for public use updated loan level data from the National Survey of Mortgage Originations (NSMO). The data also provide updated mortgage performance and...more
The CFPB recently issued a technical rule to reinstate the closed-end loan reporting threshold under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) of 25 originated covered loans in each of the prior two calendar years that was...more
Ginnie Mae advises in the report that in early 2016 it and investors in Ginnie Mae guaranteed MBS “first began to identify a wave of early loan repayments and serial refinancing as a problem with much greater incidence in VA...more
In recent remarks at the CRA & Fair Lending Colloquium, Grovetta Gardineer, Senior Deputy Comptroller for Bank Supervision Policy at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, discussed the OCC’s current fair lending...more
In a recent blog post, the CFPB addressed its approach to the court ruling that overturned the part of a CFPB April 2020 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) rule that increased the threshold to report closed-end mortgage...more
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recently announced the 2023 loan limits for FHA insured forward mortgage loans and FHA insured Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECMs). The announcements were made...more
The CFPB’s Office of Research recently issued a blog post regarding its analyses of the impacts of higher mortgage interest rates on borrowers and potential homebuyers. The analyses are based on first and second quarter Home...more
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) recently announced the conforming loan limits for residential mortgage loans acquired by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2023. Fannie Mae addresses the limits in Lender Letter 2022-06....more
The U.S. Department of Housing Urban Development (HUD) recently issued a final rule permitting the use of private flood insurance policies with FHA-insured mortgage loans. HUD also issued Mortgagee Letter 2022-18 addressing...more
The CFPB has released the Fall 2022 edition of its Supervisory Highlights. The report discusses the Bureau’s examinations in the areas of auto servicing, consumer reporting, credit card account management, debt collection,...more
In a recent blog post the CFPB warned mortgage lenders that “[l]enders that fail to have a clear and consistent method to ensure that borrowers can seek a reconsideration of value risk violating federal law.”...more
For forward Federal Housing Administration (FHA) insured purchase mortgage loans made to first-time homebuyers, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recently announced in Mortgagee Letter 2022-17 the...more
The Justice Department announced that it has entered into an agreement with Lakeland Bank to settle the DOJ’s claims that Lakeland engaged in unlawful redlining in the Newark, New Jersey metropolitan area. The DOJ’s lawsuit...more
10/4/2022
/ Community Reinvestment Act ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Discriminatory Lending Practices ,
ECOA ,
Fair Housing Act (FHA) ,
Fair Lending ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Mortgages ,
Race Discrimination ,
Redlining ,
Settlement Agreements
In April 2020, the CFPB issued a final HMDA rule increasing the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) reporting threshold for closed-end mortgage loans from 25 covered loans originated in each of the prior two years to 100...more
The CFPB recently issued a Request for Information Regarding Mortgage Refinances and Forbearances (RFI) Comments on the RFI will be due 60 days after publication in the Federal Register....more
In Mortgagee Letter 2022-14 , dated August 23, 2022, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) requirement for Federal Housing Administration (FHA) lenders and...more