In the News

Compliance News: FNMA Announces Pending Updates to ARM Products

FNMA has announced pending plans to modify their ARM products in the first half of 2020 (see https://www.fanniemae.com/content/news/libor-sofr-transition?utm_campaign=ssn-sell2019iss&utm_source=sfsfmc&utm_medium=email&utm_content=eml-noa-1120b-o-n&utm_term=b2b). These changes are being done under the guidance of the FHFA and in coordination with FHLMC.

Some of the planned changes include incorporating the Alternative Reference Rate Committee’s (ARRC’s) “fallback language” into the uniform notes and other legal documents for ARMs….

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Compliance News: Pennsylvania Updates Base Figure Amount

The Pennsylvania Department of Banking and Securities has announced in 49 Pa.B. 6554 (Nov. 2, 2019) that they would be adjusting the “base figure” from $256,023 to $260,404 (see http://www.pacodeandbulletin.gov/Display/pabull?file=/secure/pabulletin/data/vol49/49-44/1633.html). The “base figure” is defined in 41 P.S….

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Compliance News: Amendments to Texas’ Administrative Law and Forms

The Finance Commission of Texas adopted proposed amendments to various sections of 7 Tex. Admin. Code Pt. 80 & 81, as well as amendments to the “Conditional Letters” published within such codes and on their website (https://www.sml.texas.gov/ResidentialMortgageLoanOriginator/rmlo_mb_forms.html)….

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Compliance News: CFPB Revises Regulation Z Exemption and Higher-Risk Mortgage Thresholds

On October 30, 2019 the CFPB published in the Federal Register final rules increasing the dollar amount of the Regulation Z exemption threshold outlined in 12 CFR § 1026.3(b)(1)(i) from $57,200 to $58,300 (see 84 FR 58020 [2019];…

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Compliance News: Washington Dep’t of Financial Institutions Finalizes MLO Regulations

The Washington Department of Financial Institutions has finalized amendments to its regulations administrating the “Consumer Loan Act” (Wash. Rev. Code Ann. §§ 31.04.015 et seq.) and “Mortgage Broker Practices Act” (Ibid. §§ 19.146.005 et seq.…

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Compliance News: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Announce Updates to the Redesigned 1003

On October 23, 2019, FNMA and FHLMC published a notice concerning updates to the Redesigned 1003, available here: https://www.fanniemae.com/content/notification/notification-urla-announcement-october-2019, and posted directly on the FNMA Redesigned 1003 website along with the updated copy here: https://www.fanniemae.com/singlefamily/uniform-residential-loan-application

These updates,…

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Compliance News: Five Amendments to the CCPA

Last year, now-former Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signed into law “The California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018” (“CCPA”), which is scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2020. On October 11, 2019 the California Secretary of State’s office assigned Legislative Chapter numbers to the following five amendments to the CCPA,…

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Compliance News: FNMA Indefinitely Postpones Form 1008 Mandatory Effective Date

Last year, FNMA announced revisions to their Form 1008 (Uniform Underwriting and Transmittal Summary), with a mandatory effective date of July 1, 2019. Earlier this year, FNMA announced that they had postponed this mandatory effected date to February 1,…

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Compliance News: Taxpayer First Act and Consent for Tax Returns

Earlier this year, Congress passed the Taxpayer First Act (133 Stat. 981 [2019]; see https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/3151/text?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22taxpayer+first+act%22%5D%7D&r=1&s=8#toc-H41D3744607B44119A2D000B89E5119D2), Section 2202 of which amends 26 U.S.C.A. § 6103(c) to require, within the context of a taxpayer requesting a copy of the taxpayer’s tax returns,…

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Compliance News: Revisions to Maryland’s Mortgage Lender Regulations

The Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing, and Regulation finalized (with some modifications) their proposed revisions to Md. Code Regs. 09.03.06 on August 29, 2019, with the finalized rules being published in the Maryland Register on September 13, 2019 (see 46 Md….

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Compliance News: New FNMA Authorized Change for Alabama Late Fees

In an email dated August 28, 2019 FNMA announced that they had “updated the summary document for the Multistate Fixed-Rate Note 3200 to include an Authorized Change for properties located in Alabama.” We have reviewed this change, which now permits lenders to include the following as the last sentence in Section 6(A) of Form 3200:

“In no event will any late charge under this Section 6(A) exceed $100.”

We are planning to incorporate this change and details of any modifications we make will be announced on our website (https://compliance.docutech.com/)….

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Compliance News: USDA to Update Form RD 3555-21

In an email sent by the USDA Office of Rural Development dated August 20, 2019 (Subject: “USDA Final Rule – Single Close Construction, Elimination of Interest Rate Cap”), the following revision was announced:

“Form RD 3555-21, with revision date of October 2019,…

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Compliance News: VA Provides Guidance on IRRRLs and EGRRCPA

On August 8, 2019 the VA published VA Circ. 26-19-22 (available at: https://www.benefits.va.gov/HOMELOANS/resources_circulars.asp) which provides preliminary guidance from the VA and the correlation between Interest Rate Reduction Refinance Loans (“IRRRL”) and the “Economic Growth, Regulatory Reform, and Consumer Protection Act” (113 Stat….

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Compliance News: More Revisions to the URLA

On August 8, 2019 FNMA and FHLMC published a joint announcement (available directly at: https://www.fanniemae.com/content/notification/notification-urla-announcement-august-2019) stating that they will be removing the “Language Preference” and “Homeownership Education and Housing Counseling” questions from the new URLA and including them in a new “voluntary consumer information form” which is under development….

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Compliance News: New eCBSV System and Applicant Consent

On May 24, 2018 President Donald J. Trump (R) signed into law the “Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act” (“EGRRCPA”) which, among other things, required the Social Security Administration (“SSA”) to establish an identification process for the prevention of fraud,…

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Compliance News: FNMA and FHLMC Expected to Adopt SOFR as ARM Index

On July 11, 2019 both FNMA and FHLMC announced that they “expect” to make an ARM product based on the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR), which is becoming the preferred standard for replacing the LIBOR when it is retired towards the end of 2021 (a high-level overview of LIBOR’s retirement can be found on our website here: https://compliance.docutech.com/2018/12/12/phasing-out-london-interbank-offered-rate-libor-and-cost-of-funds-index-cofi/)….

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Compliance News: Florida Revises Short Forms of Acknowledgment

On June 7, 2019 Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) approved FL HB 409 (2019), which modifies the formats of the “short forms” of notarial acknowledgments promulgated in Fla. Stat. Ann. § 695.25 (see https://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Bills/billsdetail.aspx?BillId=63304). The effective date of these amendments is January 1,…

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Compliance News: Redesigned URLA Optional Use Date Postponed

FNMA and FHLMC have postponed the optional use date (July 1, 2019) for the redesigned Uniform Residential Loan Application.  A new timeline has not yet been determined:

“At the direction of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA),…

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Compliance News: RD to Impose New Technology Fee

In an email dated June 12, 2019 (Subject: USDA Technology Fee Implementation), the Office of Rural Development announced the following (cited in relevant part):

“On January 1, 2020 the USDA Single Family Housing Guaranteed Loan Program will begin to assess and collect a fee (aka technology fee) from lenders on each closed loan that was submitted via the Guaranteed Underwriting System (GUS)….

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Compliance News: IRS Ends Providing Tax Transcripts to Third Parties via 4506

On June 4, 2019 the IRS announced the following in IR-2019-101 (available here):

“Effective July 1, 2019, the IRS will no longer provide transcripts requested on Form 4506, Form 4506-T and Form 4506T-EZ to third parties,…

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