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On October 2, 2014 the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced that it has negotiated a Conciliation Agreement with Midland States Bancorp, resolving allegations that the bank avoided doing business in predominantly African American and Hispanic neighborhoods in St. Louis, Missouri and northern Illinois in violation of the Fair Housing Act. Midland is a community bank based in southern Illinois. The settlement is the result of a housing discrimination complaint filed by Metropolitan St.

On September 29. 2014 the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) took action against Michigan-based Flagstar Bank for violating the new mortgage servicing rules contained in Section 1024 of Regulation X, which implements the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), by illegally blocking borrowers’ attempts to save their homes. The loans were primarily owned by investors and were serviced by Flagstar under contract. The consent order alleges the bank took excessive time to process borrowers’ applications

Last month the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) published the revised NFIP Flood Insurance Manual, updated with program changes that will become effective October 1, 2014. The changes primarily impact those issuing FEMA policies, but contain information helpful to those obtaining FEMA policies. Among other items the manual shows where information was previously added in accordance with the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012, but removed to comply with provisions of the Homeowner Flood

A homeowners association (HOA) assessment lien is a lien on a property if the homeowner becomes delinquent in paying the monthly fees and/or any special assessments (usually collectively referred to as “assessments”). State law determines the priority of an assessment lien. HOA liens are often junior to first-mortgage liens. Some states have provided “Super Lien” status to HOA assessment liens. A super lien is a category of lien that is given a higher priority than

On September 22, 2014 the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) announced the availability of data on mortgage lending transactions at 7,190 U.S. financial institutions covered by the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA). Covered institutions include banks, savings associations, credit unions, and mortgage companies.   The HMDA data cover 2013 lending activity, and include applications, originations, purchases and sales of loans, denials, and other actions related to applications. The data also include disclosure statements for