CFPB Plans Further Servicing Rules Updates

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced on Friday the implementation of new mortgage servicing rules and new rules related to the Know Before You Owe (TRID) rule as part of its semiannual Spring 2016 rulemaking agenda.

The CFPB said it expects to issue a final rule in the summer to amend a proposal it originally made in December 2014 to amend the mortgage servicing rules that originally took effect in 2013.

“The proposal addressed, among other things, enhanced loss mitigation requirements and compliance with certain rules when the borrower is a potential or confirmed successor in interest or is in bankruptcy,” the CFPB said. “We conducted testing of periodic statements for consumers in bankruptcy and published the testing report for comment in April 2016.”

In addition to the new mortgage servicing rule, the CFPB said it expects to release a Notice of Proposed rulemaking in order to provide some clarification and further regulatory guidance concerning the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure (TRID) rule, also known as the Know Before You Owe mortgage initiative, which was implemented on October 3, 2015. In late April, CFPB Director Richard Cordray wrote a letter to financial industry trades and their members recognizing the “operational challenges” the industry is experiencing as a result TRID implementation and that the Bureau is considering making some “adjustments” in the regulation text to provide greater certainty and clarity.

According to the CFPB, the Bureau is continuing other efforts to implement critical consumer protections under Dodd-Frank to guard against the practices in the mortgage market that were the biggest contributors to the 2008 mortgage crisis.

“Since 2013, the Bureau has issued regulations as directed by the Dodd-Frank Act to implement certain protections for mortgage originations and servicing, integrate various federal mortgage disclosures, and amend mortgage reporting requirements under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA),” the CFPB said. “The Bureau is continuing intensive work to facilitate implementation of the new requirements, including follow-up rulemaking where warranted.”

Specifically, the CFPB is “intensely” planning the implementation of the rule (finalized in October 2015) to implement Dodd-Frank amendments to the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA). An entity compliance guide has already been released in connection with the rule; and while certain elements of the rule are scheduled to take effect in January 2017, most of the new data collection requirements are scheduled to take effect in January 2018.

“The Bureau is also working to streamline and modernize the HMDA data reporting processes in conjunction with implementation of the regulatory changes, and is conducting outreach with industry to prepare for both the regulatory and operational changes,” the CFPB said.

Click here to view the complete agenda.