Blog

Recently the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) published the final list of counties designated as rural or underserved.  This final list is identical to the preliminary list published on March 12. The list is used to determine if escrows are required for certain higher-priced mortgage loans. Escrow rules for higher-priced mortgage loans (HPMLs) are scheduled to go into effect  on June 1, 2013. The rules require creditors to create and maintain escrow accounts for a

On April 29, 2013 the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau published an 86-page final rule to amend Regulation Z.  The final rule has four main elements: First, the final rule generally removes references to an independent ability-to-pay standard from Section 1026.51(a)(1) and associated commentary. As a result, card issuers are no longer required to consider whether consumers age 21 or older have an independent ability to pay; instead, card issuers are now required by Regulation Z

On May 8 the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) published a proposal to temporarily delay the June 1, 2013, effective date of the prohibition on financing credit insurance premiums in connection with consumer credit transactions secured by a dwelling. The temporary delay provides the CFPB time to clarify, before the provision takes effect, its applicability to transactions other than those in which a lump-sum premium is added to the loan amount at closing. The proposal

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) recently published what will hopefully be the final revisions to its remittance rules. The final revised rule will take effect on October 28, 2013. The remittance rules create a comprehensive consumer protection regime for remittance transfers sent by consumers in the United States to individuals and businesses in foreign countries. Under the remittance rule, remittance transfer providers will be required to disclose certain fees and taxes, as well as

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recently announced that it has reached yet another agreement with a mortgage lender that apparently discriminated against a woman on maternity leave. The lender entered into the agreement to settle allegations that it denied woman a mortgage loan because she was pregnant and on maternity leave. The Fair Housing Act  prohibits discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of dwellings, and in other housing-related transactions, based on