On November 8 the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released a tool that provides an easy-to-use method of providing the required list of homeownership counseling organizations. Creditors can provide the list made available through the CFPB tool or may develop their own lists using the same HUD data that the CFPB uses in the tool.
Some loans origination software systems (LOS) have not completed links in their software to automatically download the lists. As an interim measure the LOS are producing a consumer disclosure that directs consumers to the CFPB tool.
We are getting questions regarding whether this is a proper practice. The CFPB has stated that lenders directing consumers to the CFPB tool while working with vendors to build systems would not raise supervisory or enforcement concerns.
So what is the best practice here? Use the CFPB tool to print the list and provide a copy of the list to the consumer, then compliance is complete. Referring the consumer to the CFPB tool, while acceptable for some unknown period of time, leaves the burden of proving that the vendor solution was still pending.
