Since December 2010, financial institutions have had to maintain strict requirements to ensure a safe and sound program for performing appraisals and evaluations for real-estate related transactions, as required by the Interagency Appraisal and Evaluation Guidelines. Limited exceptions for appraisals were required under the Guidelines, requiring banks to request more appraisals than ever before and maintain stringent requirements in the ordering of those appraisals. Since 2010, appraisals for real-estate related transactions have dramatically increased while […]
Month: May 2017
REGULATION O – LENDING TO INSIDERS
Congress enacted the Financial Institutions Regulatory and Interest Control Act in 1978. The insider lending provisions of the law were implemented as Regulation O. Historical data show that insider abuse is at the heart of many bank failures. Examiners take very seriously their mission to prevent insider abuse. They frequently cite violations of Regulation O during examinations, and often take enforcement action. Enforcement actions may take the form of civil monetary penalties , a Memorandum of […]
ATR/QM ASSESSMENT
The Dodd-Frank Act (DFA) requires the CFPB to review certain rules within five years after they take effect. The required reviews are called assessments. The CFPB is conducting an assessment of the ATR/QM rule, and will issue a report of the assessment by January 2019. As required by law, the assessment will address the rule’s effectiveness in meeting the purposes and objectives of Title X of the Dodd-Frank Act and the specific goals of the […]
MUNICIPALITY CASES UPDATE
On May 6, 2017 we reported the Supreme Court’s 5 – 3 decision that cities have standing to sue banks for damages under the Fair Housing Act. We wondered, ” Will we see more of these actions? Most likely.” Well we have another case, and much sooner than expected. The City of Philadelphia filed suit against Wells Fargo on May 15th. We expect the list of cities filing cases to grow steadily. If any city […]
JUST A LITTLE OVER THE LIMIT
From time-to-time I have identified a practice as “a violation, but a low-risk violation.” That’s kind of like driving 58 miles per hour in a 55 miles per hour zone. It is “a violation of law, but a low-risk violation.” Recently I was asked if it was OK to take a realtor to lunch to build a better relationship that should lead to more referrals of loan applications. I responded that the practice is… You […]