News By Edition

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) received more than 150 public comments on its advance notice of proposed rulemaking on potential requirements under the Bank Secrecy Act for certain persons involved in real estate transactions to collect, report and retain information. FinCEN said the systemic money laundering vulnerabilities presented by the real estate sector threatens the U.S. financial system. Read on for comments from the American Land Title Association, National Association of Realtors and RESPRO.

A new study by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) examined the distribution of housing wealth between 2010 and 2020 across income groups and in 917 metropolitan or micropolitan areas. In the study, “Housing Wealth Gains for the Rising Middle-Class Markets,” NAR found that during those 10 years, nearly 980,000 middle-income households became homeowners. Within that timeframe, total housing wealth for this income group surged by $2.1 trillion.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has notified public housing authorities that they may apply for certain regulatory waivers which were originally offered as part of the CARES Act waivers to provide continued flexibility during the pandemic and pandemic recovery.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced it is providing $2.4 million in American Rescue Plan funding to help 11 HUD Fair Housing Initiatives Program agencies combat housing discrimination related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A Maryland district court erred by granting a motion to dismiss a claim filed by a borrower who argued his servicer should have ceased providing adverse information about his mortgage loan after receiving a qualified written request alleging a servicing mistake. That’s according to a Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals panel, which affirmed in part and reversed in part the lower court’s decision in a class action suit.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has released a factsheet on the interest rate used for calculating prepaid interest under the price-based General Qualified Mortgage annual percentage rate (APR) calculation rule for certain adjustable-rate mortgages and step-rate loans. The factsheet describes the interest rate used for calculating prepaid interest for purposes of this special APR calculation rule.

A New Jersey borrower filed a lawsuit claiming her servicer violated TRID by failing to send notice requirements of assignment of mortgage, transfer of mortgage loan and foreclosure. The defendants asked that the amended complaint be dismissed because the borrower’s claims challenging the validity of the assignment of her mortgage and the foreclosure are issues that should have been raised in the state court proceeding.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is re-proposing minimum eligibility requirements mortgage lenders would have to meet to sell or service loans for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. FHFA said a key improvement from the minimum financial requirements established in 2015 is the re-proposed financial requirements differentiate between the servicing of Ginnie Mae mortgages and the servicing of government-sponsored enterprise mortgages.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Department of Education have joined forces for an improved private-public partnership with more than 80 American businesses and organizations who pledged to significantly decarbonize. HUD said it supports the multifamily component of the Better Climate Challenge.

A real estate technology company has asked a judge to dismiss a counterclaim against it filed by the National Association of Realtors (NAR). REX sued NAR in March 2021, claiming its competitive mode is threatened by the concerted action of NAR and Seattle-based Zillow, along with their multiple listing services affiliates. REX is seeking an award of treble damages and reasonable attorneys’ fees. Read on for the latest in the case.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced it will be working with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to ensure small businesses are treated fairly concerning accessing loans. The CFPB recently wrote a letter in response to the FTC’s request for comment on its proposed settlement agreement with a business credit reporting agency accused of deceiving small businesses about a line of products purported to help companies improve their credit reports.

The U.S. homeownership rate climbed to 65.5 percent in 2020, up 1.3 percent from 2019 and the largest annual increase on record. But although more Americans are likely to own a home now than during any year following the Great Recession, Black Americans continue to face significant obstacles along the path to homeownership, according to a new report from the National Association of Realtors (NAR). Read on for more details from NAR.

Existing-home sales rose in January, following a downward trend the previous month, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). On a month-over-month basis, each of the four major U.S. regions experienced an increase in sales in January. Read on for NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun’s analysis.

A Missouri borrower sued his servicer and seven other defendants over two allegedly unlawful loans made for his two mortgages. The borrower sued eight defendants regarding his two mortgages and subsequent misrepresentations regarding modifications to the two loans.

As required by mandate, the Consumer Financial Protection recently completed its annual employee survey and has published the results on its website. Read on for more details.

The operators of a massive real estate investment coaching scheme face permanent bans and will pay approximately $12 million for consumer redress as part of a settlement in a 2019 lawsuit filed by the Federal Trade Commission and the Utah Department of Commerce Division of Consumer Protection. The defendants increased sales by partnering with home-improvement and flipping television celebrities.

Three Republican lawmakers are questioning the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) pending rulemaking to implement Section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Act. The lawmakers’ concerns echoed several previously raised by the American Bankers Association.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has issued a compliance bulletin on the Electronic Fund Transfer Act’s (EFTA) compulsory use prohibition. Section 913 of EFTA provides that no person may require a consumer to establish an account for receipt of electronic fund transfers with a particular financial institution as a condition of receipt of a government benefit. The bulletin outlines the existing prohibitions against prepaid cards being the sole method for distributing government benefits.

Consumer Bankers Association President and CEO Richard Hunt has asked the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to extend its supervisory authority over small-business fintech lenders. Such lenders operate outside the regulatory purview of the bureau and do not abide by the same federal oversight requirements as traditional banks.