Archive

ALTERNATE MORTGAGE TRANSACTION PARITY ACT AND NEW REGULATION D

On July 22, 2011 the CFPB published an interim final rule establishing Regulation D (§1004 of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection regulations) pursuant to the Alternative Mortgage Transaction Parity Act (AMTPA). The interim final rule is necessary to avoid a regulatory gap created by the amendments to AMTPA in the Dodd-Frank Act. Without an interim final rule that takes immediate effect, state housing creditors would no longer be able to make variable rate mortgage […]

SHUFFLING CHAIRS AT THE CFPB

It is being widely reported that President Obama will nominate former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). The CFPB is scheduled to officially open for business on July 21, 2011. Cordray has been serving as the CFPB’s assistant director for enforcement during its formative period. Elizabeth Warren, who has been building the agency and was slated to be nominated as its permanent head, endorsed Cordray’s nomination. Expect the […]

NEW APPROACH FOR A BIG COMPLIANCE HEADACHE

Everyone seems to be aware of the huge challenge presented by the Dodd-Frank Act. Thousands of pages of law will become tens of thousands of pages of regulations in the next few years. But most lenders have not yet adopted a plan for dealing with this huge issue. One solution – join a masters group. Compliance Resource, LLC, through their website, mycomplianceresource.com, has formed such a group – the Dodd-Frank Masters Group. Amy Faust, Marketing […]

ABILITY TO REPAY – PROPOSED REGULATIONS

Recently the Federal Reserve Board (FRB) requested comment on a proposed rule under Regulation Z that requires creditors to determine a consumer’s ability to repay a mortgage before making the loan and also establishes minimum mortgage underwriting standards. We already have a similar requirement for Section 32 mortgages, Section 35 mortgages (higher-priced mortgage loans), and for open-end credit. The requirement is being expanded to all consumer mortgage loans (except home equity lines of credit, timeshare […]

THE YEAR OF UNCERTAINTY

We are living in the time of the most overwhelming change to lending compliance rules and to the structure of the regulatory agencies that enforce the rules since civil rights and consumer protection rules were first written in the late 1960s. We hope the picture will soon develop enough so we can discern the future of compliance. While the Fed has already begun to wind down it’s regulation writing activities, as evidenced by shelving the […]