Fair Lending Shake-Ups: CFPB Vacates Townstone Settlement, FHFA Ends GSEs' Special Purpose Credit Programs — The Consumer Finance Podcast
The Latest on Junk Fees and New York's Foreclosure Abuse Prevention Act — The Consumer Finance Podcast
The Latest on HUD's Disparate Impact Rule - The Consumer Finance Podcast
Title Insurance and Your Transaction
Law Brief®: Robert Wolf, Alexander Tiktin and Richard Schoenstein Discuss the Continuing Foreclosure/Eviction Moratorium
Credit Eco to Go Podcast - Not a Normal Mortgage Crisis: How the Mortgage Industry Weathered the Pandemic
Not a Normal Mortgage Crisis: How the Mortgage Industry Weathered the Pandemic
Fannie Mae published its Preferred Equity Guide Update (25-06) and its Preferred Equity Checklist (Form 6441) in mid-April. Although unpublished iterations have been circulating for the past two years, lenders and law firms...more
Financial institutions that purchase mortgage loans in Maryland, including securitization trusts and other secondary market purchasers, face a new requirement to obtain a state license. The Maryland Office of Financial...more
On January 10, 2025, the Maryland Office of Financial Regulation issued emergency regulations revised to clarify that “passive trusts” holding residential mortgage loans must obtain a Mortgage Lender License and if the trusts...more
On January 10, 2025, the Maryland Office of Financial Regulation (OFR) issued formal guidance asserting that assignees of residential mortgage loans—including certain “passive trusts” that acquire or obtain assignments of...more
On October 29, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin and the state’s Division on Civil Rights (DCR) released a report detailing the findings of a multi-year investigation into Republic First Bank (Republic) and its...more
On August 29, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Center (“FinCEN”) published Anti-Money Laundering Regulations for Residential Real Estate Transfers (“Final Rule”) regarding residential real estate. The Federal Register...more
As any bank professional regulatory compliance professional knows redlining is the hottest issue today and has been since Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the “Combatting Redlining Initiative” in October 2021. Since...more
Recently, the Ohio Division of Financial Institutions released a letter to repeal prior guidance banning mortgage professionals from acting as both a mortgage professional and a real estate agent in the same transaction. This...more
In a recent article in National Mortgage Professional entitled "Manufacturing Fair Lending”, former chief of the Housing and Civil Enforcement Section at the Department of Justice under Attorney General William Barr, Paul...more
In emails in recent months we've warned bankers about the extremely aggressive enforcement of anti-redlining policies. This is becoming more and more obvious every day as more banks get threatened with referral to the DOJ....more
As previously reported, bills were introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives (H.R. 7297) and U.S. Senate (S. 3502) to amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) to curtail the practice of trigger leads with mortgage...more
There has been much understandable handwringing about the new CRA and its complexity as well as the high CRA exam failure rate predicted by regulators based on the new assessment areas and the higher performance standards...more
As I write this article the Department of Justice is pursuing a record-breaking number of “redlining” cases against banks and mortgage lenders. The “Anti-redlining Initiative” was announced October 22, 2021, by Attorney...more
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Director Rohit Chopra recently addressed The Mortgage Collaborative National Conference recounting the Congressional response to the mortgage industry crisis that began in 2008 that...more
In episode #22 of Industry Insights podcast, Bob Grados joins host Joel Simon to discuss the current real estate market, the types of lenders active in the market and popular transaction types that are thriving in today’s...more
Law Enforcement Has Been Using GTO Data - First of Two Posts on Evolving Issues Regarding Real Estate and Money Laundering - The U.S. Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) has issued a report on the status and...more
Attend the only forum designed to help you navigate the Residential Mortgage Industry’s evolving landscape. Now in its 26th installment, ACI’s Residential Mortgage forum has become a premier gathering of the key industry...more
On October 16, 2018, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (the “Agencies”) issued the Frequently Asked Questions on...more
The CFPB recently released a File Format Verification Tool for 2018 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data. As we reported, in October 2015, the CFPB adopted significant changes to the HMDA rules that significantly expanded...more
On August 5, 2015, the CFPB issued a report on its study of the CFPB’s mortgage loan eClosing project and held a public forum addressing the study results. As we reported, the CFPB launched the eClosing project to determine...more