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News By Edition
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RESPA News Monthly Edition
RESPA News Monthly
April 2024
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UPDATED: What does NAR’s Sitzer-Burnett broker commission settlement mean?
Posted Date: Monday, March 18, 2024
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) announced it has reached a settlement, still subject to court approval, in the case brought by home sellers related to broker commissions. In 2023, a jury found the defendant organizations had violated antitrust laws by following NAR’s cooperative compensation rule. RESPA News checked with our legal experts on what this means for the remaining party, and what to expect going forward.
Originally, Anywhere Real Estate, RE/MAX, LLC, Keller Williams, HomeServices of America, and NAR were defendants. With NAR’s settlement announcement, the sole remaining defendant is HomeServices of America.
Read on for more details.
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FHFA Director Thompson speaks on title insurance pilot
Posted Date: Thursday, March 14, 2024
Coinciding with the Biden-Harris administration’s announcement that it would be looking into title insurance and the closing costs that come with purchasing a home, Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Sandra Thompson provided details about the agency’s title acceptance pilot.
“The title acceptance pilot will make it possible to test whether allowing lenders to sell these refinance loans is a responsible approach to reducing the closing costs incurred by existing homeowners,” Thompson said.
Read on for more details.
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ABA voices concern over agencies regulating through guidance
Posted Date: Monday, March 4, 2024
The American Bankers Association (ABA) issued a white paper titled, “Effective Agency Guidance: Examining Bank Regulators Guidance Practices,” where it voiced its and other trade association’s concern over agency use of guidance “to advance regulatory policy agendas.”
ABA President Rob Nichols referenced the white paper, along with copies of recent comment letters, in a letter to the federal financial regulators requesting their consideration of the feedback. RESPA News spoke with Richard Andreano of Ballard Spahr, Loretta Salzano of Franzén and Salzano, and Mike Silver of Husch Blackwell, LLP about important takeaways from the report.
Read on for more details.
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Industry reacts to HUD secretary’s resignation
Posted Date: Monday, March 11, 2024
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Marcia Fudge gave her two weeks’ notice on March 11. After working in the public sector for almost 50 years, she will be retiring from public life.
Ken Trepeta, RESPRO president and executive director, told RESPA News his organization was sad to see her go, as her experience was “an asset” to HUD and the industry.
Read on for more details.
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Mortgage servicer faces Reg X ‘dual tracking’ complaint in New York court
Posted Date: Monday, March 18, 2024
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York stated it was concerned about the defense counsel’s conduct in a case where a woman representing herself challenged the foreclosure on her home, alleging her present servicer was liable for the dual tracking committed by the former servicer of her loan in violation of RESPA’s implementing regulation, Regulation X.
The court stated the defense counsel’s eagerness to exploit an “obvious mishap” was troubling.
Read on for more details.
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Cenlar faces RESPA complaint after allegedly misapplying funds
Posted Date: Thursday, March 14, 2024
A couples’ amended complaint against their mortgage servicer Cenlar was brought before the U.S. District Court of New Jersey. The plaintiffs alleged the servicer misapplied payments made toward their mortgage loan and failed to adequately respond to qualified written requests in violation of RESPA.
The dispute involves the application of a housing choice voucher from a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development homeownership program.
Read on for more details.
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Plaintiffs bring RESPA complaint over transcripts, recordings requests
Posted Date: Thursday, March 14, 2024
A married couple brought a RESPA class action against PHH Mortgage Services and NewRez, LLC after the servicers twice refused to remit copies of recordings and transcripts of conversations about the couple’s mortgage when asked for in a qualified written request.
The servicers argued to provide such materials would be an undue burden on PHH and the requested information was for internal purposes only.
Read on for more details.
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Senate hearing examines affordable housing proposals
Posted Date: Thursday, March 21, 2024
In a hearing where the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs examined proposals to address housing affordability, availability, and other community needs, senators asked witnesses from The Heritage Foundation, Local Initiatives Support Corporation, and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities questions about expanding housing supply, addressing regulatory boundaries, and reducing mortgage costs.
In his opening statement, Committee Chair Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) highlighted actions the committee has taken so far, such as calling for the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates and sponsoring bills that target housing-prohibitive zoning laws.
Read on for more details.
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Politicians, HPC, Fitch Ratings react to FHFA title acceptance pilot
Posted Date: Thursday, March 21, 2024
After the Federal Housing Finance Agency announced its title acceptance policy, Reps. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio), Bill Huizenga (R-Mich.), and Andrew Garbarino (R-N.Y.), as well as the Housing Policy Council’s President Edward DeMarco, expressed concerns about the program and its potential impacts.
On the other hand, Fitch Ratings stated the proposal was unlikely to impact title insurer ratings.
The program of concern would give an alternative option for low-risk refinanced home loans, waiving the need for a lender’s title insurance policy.
Read on for more details.
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Fair housing complaint filed against Ohio company related to accessibility requirements
Posted Date: Thursday, March 21, 2024
The National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) and the Tennessee Fair Housing Council (TFHC) filed a fair housing complaint with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The two organizations accused a developer of building properties that do not comply with the Fair Housing Act.
Gross Residential is an Ohio-based corporation that develops, constructs, and manages single-family housing and multi-family apartment communities. According to its site, it has built 41 communities with over 13,000 homes in Ohio, Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina, and South Carolina.
Read on for more details.
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Fannie Mae recognizes high-performing mortgage servicers
Posted Date: Wednesday, March 27, 2024
Fannie Mae announced its 2023 Servicer Total Achievement and Rewards (STAR) Program results, recognizing 32 mortgage servicers for competency, capacity, and overall performance. For more than a decade, Fannie Mae’s STAR Program has awarded high-performing mortgage servicers for their loan volume and portfolio composition, and for demonstrating leading practices to improve the housing industry.
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Experts discuss RESPA compliance considerations in fintech partnerships
Posted Date: Thursday, March 21, 2024
FNF Family of Companies’ Chuck Cain and Mortgage Connect’s Gabe Minton were featured in October Research, LLC’s “RESPA: Ensuring Fintech Partner Compliance” webinar, moderated by RESPA News.
The two field experts highlighted what you should consider when entering into and maintaining fintech partnerships.
Read on for more details.
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FHA issues new loan limits for manufactured homes
Posted Date: Thursday, March 21, 2024
The Federal Housing Administration issued new loan limits to expand financing for manufactured homes.
The agency stated these changes will better align with current market prices and encourage lenders to offer the program to homebuyers.
Read on for more details.
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MBA Opens Doors Foundation receives $1M pledge
Posted Date: Monday, March 18, 2024
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Opens Doors Foundation (Opens Doors) today announced that Eddy Perez, founder and CEO of Equity Prime Mortgage (EPM), has pledged $1 million over 10 years in honor of the late former MBA President and CEO David Stevens.
With this generous pledge, Opens Doors will further deliver on Stevens’ vision of an organization that provides mortgage and rental assistance to families with critically ill or injured children, allowing parents and guardians to be by a child’s side during treatment without fear of losing their home.
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Pro se plaintiffs allege RESPA violations in case involving zombie mortgage
Posted Date: Monday, March 18, 2024
A married couple brought claims against the servicers on their mortgage loan. After all but one defendant was removed from the case, a Delaware federal district judge considered the final defendant’s motion for summary judgment.
On May 20, 2010, the Davises entered into a loan modification. According to the complaint, the Davises contacted the servicer about the increase in the reported unpaid principal balance cited in the modification agreement, and they were advised that their loan had been consolidated with a subordinate mortgage debt also owned by BAC.
Read on for more details.
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JV between Fathom Holdings, Verus Title opens business in Texas
Posted Date: Monday, March 18, 2024
Fathom Holdings, a national end-to-end real estate services platform, and its subsidiary Verus Title, Inc. have formed a joint venture to increase revenue and profitability. Verus Title Elite Texas, LLC, the new entity, should provide an elevated closing experience for Fathom agents and their clients.
“We are thrilled to form Verus Title Elite in response to feedback from our agents in Texas on ways to enhance the closing experience for clients while providing our top agents an opportunity to increase their income,” Fathom Holdings CEO Marco Fregenal said in a statement. “This joint venture could prove to be a significant win-win for Verus Title and those top agents who participate."
Read on for more details.
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Tribal communities receive nearly $70M in housing grants
Posted Date: Monday, March 18, 2024
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development allocated almost $70 million to support housing for families living on Native American reservations and in other tribal communities.
More than 30 communities received the monies through the Indian Community Development Block Grant program.
Read on for more details.
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Brown introduces bill to increase affordable housing via faith-based orgs
Posted Date: Monday, March 18, 2024
Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) introduced a bill titled, “Yes, in God’s back yard,” which provides support to faith-based organizations and colleges that wish to build and preserve affordable housing on their land.
If passed, the bill would reduce barriers to developing this sort of housing, such as zoning restrictions and other policies.
Read on for more details.
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The grandparents are all right – Fannie Mae reports homeowners confidently ‘aging in place’
Posted Date: Thursday, March 14, 2024
Fannie Mae Senior Vice President and Chief Economist Doug Duncan and Market Research Advisor, National Housing Survey Lead Rachel Zimmerman said an April 2023 study of aging Americans revealed a majority of them are planning to “age in place.”
The study considered answers from 1,448 homeowners, aged 60 and up, which makes up 29 percent of the adult population and 44 percent of homeowners.
Read on for more details.
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Funds offered to support new homebuyers, bridge wealth gap
Posted Date: Thursday, March 14, 2024
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is offering $10 million in grant funding to prepare and equip prospective homebuyers with the tools they need to succeed in purchasing a home.
The purpose of the monies is to provide culturally sensitive and linguistically appropriate services for pre- and post-purchase housing counseling.
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Anywhere Integrated Services regional president appointed to NAHREP board
Posted Date: Wednesday, March 13, 2024
Anywhere Real Estate Inc. today announced the appointment of Eric Jacobs, regional president – select brands, Anywhere Integrated Services, to the Corporate Board of Governors of the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP).
Jacobs joins Anywhere colleague and CENTURY 21 President and CEO Mike Miedler, who has served on the NAHREP board since 2019.
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CFPB’s fight against ‘junk fees’ comes for housing closing costs
Posted Date: Monday, March 11, 2024
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau opined about how junk fees are “driving up housing costs” after the Biden-Harris administration announced it would be working toward lowering housing costs, with an eye on title insurance reforms.
The bureau, which has been warning about cracking down on what it considers to be “junk fees,” issued a post on Feb. 27 about unlawful fees in the mortgage market that coincided with its joint amicus brief with the Federal Trade Commission in a case considering whether convenience fees charged by a mortgage servicing company are unfair to consumers.
Read on for more details.
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Fair Servicing Best Practices guide issued
Posted Date: Monday, March 11, 2024
To ensure servicers are treating all borrowers consistently and fairly throughout the loan process in compliance with fair lending and other consumer protection laws, Fannie Mae issued a Fair Servicing Best Practices guide.
The guide addressed training, risk/compliance, policies and procedures, and other topics based on conversations with mortgage servicers and consumer advocacy groups alike.
Read on for more details.
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Millennials on the move: Report shows group received the most mortgage offers in 2023
Posted Date: Monday, March 11, 2024
A report by LendingTree found millennials, the generation born between 1981 and 1996, received the largest number of mortgage offers across the country. The report identified the areas where millennials flocked to, and where they avoided.
“Given how often we hear about the financial woes facing millennials, it might be surprising to learn that a majority of mortgage offers across the nation’s largest metros were given to members of the generation,” LendingTree Senior Economist Jacob Channel said about the report. “That said, the trend makes sense for various reasons.”
Read on for more details.
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BSI Financial, Bizzy Labs introduce AI-based enhancements for loan boarding
Posted Date: Monday, March 11, 2024
BSI Financial, a mortgage fintech platform, and Bizzy Labs, an affiliate, launched enhancements to its compliance technology to streamline and automate the loan boarding process, specifically designed for mortgage servicing rights acquisitions.
“Our latest enhancement to Libretto leverages generative [artificial intelligence] capabilities to provide the fastest and most accurate loan data boarding available in the industry,” BSI Financial Services and Bizzy Labs founder and CEO Gagan Sharma said.
Read on for more details.
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FHFA announces update to new credit score rollout
Posted Date: Monday, March 11, 2024
The Federal Housing Finance Agency announced updates for the transition to a bi-merge credit requirement from the traditional tri-merge of reports from all credit reporting agencies.
The credit score requirement updates have been a source of contention since their announcement, with members of Congress concerned the change would result in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac receiving incomplete borrower data, as well as increased risk.
Read on for more details.
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Celebrating women in the industry
Posted Date: Thursday, March 7, 2024
March is Women’s History Month, with March 8 home to International Women’s Day. Women’s History Month was authorized by Congress on March 7, 1982, first as Women’s History Week, then eventually as the entire month in 1987. Each year, the president issues a proclamation calling for programs, ceremonies, and activities in honor of the powerful women shaping our society.
To mark the occasion, RESPA News reached out to some of the many women making strides in our industry for words on how they got there, how the industry supports them, and what they’re looking forward to in 2024.
Read on for more details.
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Hunting cabin on leased property heart of TILA dispute
Posted Date: Wednesday, March 6, 2024
Plaintiffs who own a hunting cabin, but not the land on which it stands, defaulted on their loan secured by the domicile. In defending against the bank’s suit for recovery of personal property, i.e., the cabin, the plaintiffs argued the bank violated the Truth in Lending Act (TILA) when it failed to provide requisite disclosures at the outset of the loan.
Franklin Savings Bank conceded that it did not provide TILA disclosures, but argued it was not required to because the loan was for commercial purposes, citing document language as evidence.
Read on for more details.
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Experts: CFPB, FTC amicus in ‘junk fee’ lawsuit likely strategic
Posted Date: Wednesday, March 6, 2024
Former CFPB attorneys Mike G. Silver, partner at Husch Blackwell, and Richard Horn, managing partner at Garris Horn LLP gave insight into the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission’s amicus brief submitted in a case relating to what the agencies consider illegal “junk fees.” The two financial regulators weighed in on whether “convenience fees” charged by a mortgage servicing company are unfair to consumers.
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Funding opportunity announced to preserve, revitalize manufactured housing
Posted Date: Wednesday, March 6, 2024
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of Housing Counseling issued a notice of funding opportunity meant to address the preservation and revitalization of manufactured housing.
This is one of the more recent actions taken by housing agencies and organizations to promote and improve manufactured housing, which has been designated multiple times as a viable solution to increasing affordable housing inventory.
Read on for more details.
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Pending home sales shrink in January
Posted Date: Wednesday, March 6, 2024
January’s pending home sales decreased, with new contract signing increases and decreases split across the four measured regions.
While the Northeast and West saw month-over-month increases, these were offset by decreases in the Midwest and South.
National Association of Realtors Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said homebuyers are showing “extra sensitivity” to interest rate changes.
Read on for more details.
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RESPA News live at RESPRO
Posted Date: Monday, March 4, 2024
RESPA News will be in Houston for RESPRO’s ONE STOP March 7-8. We’re covering discussions ranging from the broker commission lawsuits that have been dominating headlines, to navigating current RESPA compliance challenges.
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Plaintiff brings RESPA suit against Caliber Homes for emotional damages
Posted Date: Monday, March 4, 2024
A plaintiff who believed his mortgage was paid off brought a RESPA suit against the servicer who disagreed, after the servicer reported to the credit reporting agencies that the plaintiff had a balance four days after he had submitted a qualified written request.
The U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland considered both parties’ motions for summary judgment, including whether to deny the plaintiff recovery for alleged emotional damages.
Read on for more details.
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Representatives hold field hearing on housing policy ‘failures’
Posted Date: Monday, March 4, 2024
At a field hearing at the Rockland County Legislature in New York City, New York, the House Committee on Financial Services’ Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance heard from witnesses on how market challenges have resulted in inaccessible and unaffordable housing options.
“Housing has already been too expensive, and now inventory is limited,” Subcommittee Chairman Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) said in his opening statement. “Lawmakers’ response is to force mandates, which sounds good on paper, but ends up hurting affordability and availability for residents most in need.”
Read on for more details.
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Fannie Mae forecasts indicate uptick in housing activity
Posted Date: Monday, March 4, 2024
The housing supply is finally showing signs of “loosening,” the Fannie Mae Economic and Strategic Research Group reported.
With households stating they anticipate mortgage interest rates to decline, and single-family starts expected to increase in the coming months, the group said it is likely for housing activity to pick up this year.
Read on for more details.
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Federal program funding extended to March 8
Posted Date: Monday, March 4, 2024
Congress passed an additional continuing resolution to extend funding for some federal programs in lieu of passing a final spending bill for 2024.
The continuing resolution extended the funding for some federal programs until March 8 and others were extended until March 22.
Read on for more details.
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