The Great Lakes State
Mich. Comp. Laws Ann. § 445.1637 requires, in connection with a mortgage loan, for the applicant to be given a “Consumer Caution and Home Ownership Counseling Notice” as well as a list of the nearest available HUD-approved credit counseling agencies.
Currently, the Notice is provided in our “MI Borrowers Bill of Rights and Consumer Caution Notice” (Cx4970) and the list of agencies in our “MI HUD-Approved Counseling Agencies” (Cx7276).
This past January, Federal Regulation X was amended to require that a list of jointly approved HUD-CFPB agencies be provided to borrowers in connection with loans covered by Regulation X (see 12 CFR § 1024.20). We provide our “List of Homeownership Counseling Organizations” (Cx17874) for this requirement.
We have received verbal confirmation from the Michigan Department of Insurance and Financial Services that providing the list of counselors pursuant to Regulation X is sufficient for complying with Michigan’s law. Since Cx17874 prints for all loans within our system (which means it will print for all loans secured by property in Michigan), we will be retiring Cx7276 and Cx17874 will be listed on our State Disclosure Matrix as the document used to fulfill Mich. Comp. Laws Ann. § 445.1637. Cx7276 will continue to print for clients who have custom configurations, unless they have approved or requested to have this document retired for them. However, it will no longer be maintained for compliance and will no longer be a standard document.
We will also be replacing the reference to the “list of HUD-Approved Housing Counseling Agencies in Michigan” in the acknowledgment section of Cx4970 with a reference to a list of “HUD- and CFPB-approved housing counseling agencies in the accompanying Homeownership Counseling Disclosure.”
The Empire State
Similar to Michigan, New York requires a notice and list of counseling agencies to be provided in connection with high cost home loans and a subprime home loan (which is the New York equivalent of a Federal higher-priced mortgage loan; see N.Y. Banking Law §§ 6-l[2][l][i] & 6-m[2][j] and N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. tit. 3, § 41.3[a][1]). We provide our “NY High Cost Loan Counseling Disclosure” (Cx3674) and “NY Subprime Loan Counseling Disclosure” (Cx14482) for these requirements.
Unlike Michigan law, however, New York law requires the list of agencies to be derived from the New York State Department of Financial Service’s list of agencies (available online at http://www.dfs.ny.gov/consumer/mortg_nys_np_counseling_agencies.htm), rather than from HUD’s list. Due to this, Cx17874 cannot be used to comply with New York’s laws in this regard, so the list of counselors must continue to populate on Cx3674 and Cx14482.
In addition to updating the lists on these documents, we will be slightly modifying the text of the counseling notices on both documents to match the specific language prescribed in New York’s laws, as well as to update the hyperlink to the Department of Financial Service’s list.
These changes will take effect on October 29, 2014. If you have any questions or concerns about these changes, please contact Client Support at 1.800.497.3584.
October 22, 2014
DR 158484 and 159542
Update:
We will also be updating the following two documents, for the reasons outlined above:
TX Important Notice to Home Loan Borrowers (Cx3591) – We will be removing the list of HUD-approved counseling agencies on this document, which list will be substantively replaced by our “List of Homeownership Counseling Organizations” (Cx17874). Cx3591 is required by Tex. Fin. Code Ann. § 343.102 to be provided in connection with a home loan, which has an interest rate of 12% or more a year.
ME Debt Management Service Disclosure (Cx17652) – We will also be removing the list of HUD-approved agencies on this document. We will also update references to such list to indicate that the agencies listed are approved by both HUD and the CFPB. Cx17652 is required under Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 32, § 6183(5)(B) & (C) to be given by debt management service providers in connection with the sale or transfer of real property.
These changes will be available on December 13, 2014.
December 9, 2014
DR 160109