On March 17, 2015, Freddie Mac issued an update to its Single-Family Seller/Servicer Guide (“Guide”) requiring servicers to offer additional modifications on previously modified step-rate mortgages.  This requirement will take effect July 1, 2015.

By requiring loan re-modifications, Freddie Mac is seeking to address what has been on everyone’s mind for a while—the expiring HAMP

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) recently prevailed on a motion for preliminary injunction against a Florida law firm and several related companies as part of its “nationwide sweep of alleged foreclosure relief scams.” According to the CFPB’s complaint against Hoffman Law Group, Nationwide Management Solutions LLC, Legal Intake Solutions LLC, BM Marketing

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau recently issued its Winter 2015 Supervisory Highlights report which provides an overview of the supervision work completed by the CFPB from July through December 2014.  Matters resolved by the CFPB’s Supervision side are non-public in nature and are resolved, not generally through the payment of large fines and penalties, but

Following up on the failure in 2014 to implement changes to the CFPB through legislative action, on March 5, U.S. Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Wis.) reintroduced a package of bills seeking to make changes to the CFPB’s leadership structure, how data is collected from consumers, and more.

Representative Duffy is the Chairman of the House Financial

We reported earlier this month that the Federal Housing Authority recently provided an option for reverse-mortgage lenders to allow eligible surviving non-borrowing spouses to remain in their homes after the death of their borrowing spouses.  According to a report recently released by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, it appears that this option became necessary due

Through March 2, 2015, the State of Maryland is accepting comments on its proposed regulations of mortgage servicing transfers that include over 5,000 mortgages, whether as a single transfer or as a total at the end of a calendar year even if no single transfer was for 5,000 or more loans.  Although many of the

On February 23, legislation was introduced in the West Virginia Senate to amend the state’s Consumer Credit Protection Act.  Senate Bill 542 would revise sections 46A-2-121, -122, -125, -126, and -128, sections 46A-5-101 and -106, and add new section 46A-5-107.

Among these proposed changes, the Bill seeks to:

  • Modify section 46A-2-121(1) regarding a claim for

At the invitation of Thompson Reuters Legal Insights and Analytics, attorneys Maryia Jones, Jason Manning, and Paige Fitzgerald delivered a presentation on TILA’s loan originator compensation rule (the “Rule”), which remains one of the CFPB’s enforcement priorities and a focus of plaintiffs’ bar in private lawsuits.  The presentation was delivered to an audience of mortgage

On February 12, Representative Steve Stivers (R-Ohio) reintroduced bi-partisan legislation that would require the Senate to confirm an independent inspector general for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, arguing it would provide greater oversight.

The Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection-Inspector General Act of 2015 (H.R. 957) is co-sponsored by Tim Walz (D-Minn.), Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-Mo.), and

On February 12, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced that it had filed a complaint against one mortgage company, All Financial Services, and had entered consent orders against two others, Flagship Financial Group and American Preferred Lending, based on claims that the companies had deceptively implied that they were affiliated with the United States government.