News By Edition

A class action lawsuit accusing a lender of receiving illegal kickbacks in exchange for the assignment of business to a settlement services company may move forward. A group of borrowers filed a lawsuit against MBA Mortgage Services Inc. alleging claims for violations of RESPA and the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.

The White River Regional Housing Authority in Melbourne, Ark., has agreed to pay $70,000 to resolve a lawsuit alleging a former employee violated the Fair Housing Act by sexually harassing an applicant who sought a Housing Choice Voucher.

The National Association of Realtors, American Bankers Association, American Land Title Association and the National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions are among more than 100 trade associations who called on Congress to reject the proposed IRS reporting requirement under consideration in the budget reconciliation package.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has settled disability discrimination claims against a Rochester, N.H., mobile home park. HUD alleged the owners refused to make a reasonable accommodation from their age restrictions to permit the homebuyer’s son, a person with severe disabilities who requires special care, to live with his mother.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has filed a complaint and proposed consent order alleging a lender used inflated and deceptive home estimates to lure consumers into taking out reverse mortgages. The CFPB is seeking consumer redress, a civil money penalty and a requirement the lender begin implementing a comprehensive compliance plan.

In 2014, the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals established the Hispanic Wealth Project with the goal of tripling Hispanic household wealth by 2024. One of the project’s goals--to increase the Hispanic homeownership rate to at least 50 percent--looks likely to occur even earlier.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has approved a conciliation agreement between the owners of an apartment complex in Tucson, Ariz., and a same-sex African American couple residing at the complex. The agreement resolves allegations the owners and manager of the complex discriminated based on sex and race when they failed to address the couple’s complaints of neighbor harassment.

A pair of Florida borrowers alleged their servicer did not timely disburse the hazard insurance premium from their escrow account and failed to properly respond to their loss mitigation and force-placed insurance concerns. The servicer argued the case should be dismissed because it properly responded to the borrowers’ notice of errors and requests for information.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) relies on outdated information technology infrastructure (IT) and manual processes to insure a portfolio of single-family mortgages worth over $1 trillion, according to a new study by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). The GAO noted HUD has made several unsuccessful attempts to modernize IT in the past, leaving it dependent on legacy systems.

A new report from the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation shows a sharp decrease in Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing. The 2020 annual report includes unaudited data compiled from finance lenders, broker, and PACE program administrators licensed under the California Financing Law.

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network has extended the deadline to file Reports of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBARs) for the 2020 calendar year. Victims of Hurricane Ida and other recent disasters now have until Dec. 31, 2021, to file FBARs.

The National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO) has new leadership. The new president and senior vice president were announced at NAHRO’s Online National Conference and Exhibition.

Rohit Chopra is a former Federal Trade Commission commissioner who is closely aligned with Sen. Elizabeth Warren and who served as the bureau’s first student loan ombudsman.

After two straight months of increases, existing-home sales decreased in August, according to the National Association of Realtors. Each of the four major U.S. regions experienced declines on both a month-over-month and a year-over-year basis.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is soliciting comments on proposed rules to rescind the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) rule issued in 2020 and replace it with rules adopted jointly by the federal banking agencies in 1995. This action facilitates the ongoing interagency work to modernize the CRA regulatory framework and promote consistency for all insured depository institutions.

The critical defect rate is down in the Regulatory Compliance and Loan Documentation categories, proving lenders are self-correcting and stabilizing their operations.

That’s according to the latest Mortgage QC Industry Trends Report from ACES Quality Management.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has released a report warning that millions of renters and their families may suffer previously avoided economic harms of the COVID-19 pandemic as federal and state relief programs end. The report compared homeowners to renters, who make up 30 percent of U.S. households.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has charged St. Charles, Mo.  housing providers with housing discrimination for allegedly refusing to rent an apartment to a prospective tenant because he has two children. As a result, the complainant said he was forced to rent a more expensive unit.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Multifamily Housing Programs is opening a new application period to allow owners of multifamily properties to apply for more than $180 million in supplemental operating funds to support expenses for protecting residents and staff from COVID-19. The COVID-19 Supplemental Payments help address operating cost increases incurred by owners to prevent, prepare for, or respond to the pandemic at their properties.

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) will host a special virtual FinCEN Innovation Hours Program on Oct. 14 focusing on the important role of digital identity to enhance financial services inclusion while supporting efforts to counter illicit activity. FinCEN encourages participation by companies developing technologies, solutions, or partnerships supporting the broad adoption of digital identity for multiple purposes within the financial services industry.