On July 9, HUD released Mortgagee Letter 2024-13 which revised Section 203(k) of the Rehabilitation Mortgage Insurance Program and specifically updated the 203(k) Consultant Requirements and Fees among other changes. The FHA...more
On March 12, a putative class action complaint was filed against the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for allegedly denying homeowners their Mortgage Insurance Premium (MIP) refunds upon the early termination...more
In its June 14, 2023, decision in United States ex rel. Michelle Calderon v. Carrington Mortgage Services, LLC, No. 22-1553, 2023 WL 3991013, (7th Cir. 2023), the Seventh Circuit explained the high bar for relators to prove...more
On February 22, FHA announced a 30 basis point reduction in the annual premium charged to mortgage borrowers, resulting in mortgage insurance premiums of 0.55 percent for most borrowers seeking FHA-insured mortgages (down...more
HUD recently announced a reduction to the annual mortgage insurance premium charged to borrowers with FHA-insured loans. HUD estimates that the reduction will save FHA borrowers on average $800 annually. HUD also released...more
On December 19, 2022, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) issued an additional extension of the temporary waiver of face-to-face contact required under 24 CFR § 203.604 Contact with the Mortgagor, under Mortgagee Actions...more
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced on December 2, 2020, the extension of the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac moratorium on single-family foreclosures from December 31, 2020, to January 31, 2021. The moratorium on...more
On June 4, 2020, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued Mortgagee Letter 2020-16 to address the endorsement for FHA insurance of mortgage loans in a COVID-19 forbearance. ...more
On December 20, 2019, the President signed into law House Resolution 1865, the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020, which is now Public Law 116-94. ...more
On October 28, 2019 the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) released a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) announcing their joint approach to False Claims Act (FCA)...more
On March 12, 2019, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued the Winter 2019 edition of its Supervisory Highlights report, detailing key examination findings that were discovered during the second half of 2018....more
Reverse mortgage lenders received a significant victory in Florida’s Third District Court of Appeal last week when the court issued its decision in OneWest Bank, FSB v. Palmero. After previously ruling in Smith v. Reverse...more
In this putative class action, plaintiffs alleged unlawful practices related to mortgage insurance practices, including a violation of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act of 1974 (“RESPA”). ...more
Following nearly three years of litigation, the D.C. Circuit handed down a 7 to 3 ruling in PHH Corp. v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The two hundred fifty page opinion addressed not only the constitutional...more
In July 2016 HUD issued guidance on the use of Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) assessments for single family properties with FHA-insured mortgages. In January 2017, HUD followed with guidance on the use of PACE...more
In a lawsuit filed by the Rehabilitator for a private mortgage insurance provider, the District Court found that the causes of action either failed to meet the Iqbal pleading standard, contained implausible allegations, or...more
The regulation of federally regulated financial institutions (FRFIs) continued intensifying in 2016 with a new wave of legislative and regulatory initiatives impacting mortgage lending, the bank resolution regime, the life...more
The US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit declared the structure of the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau unconstitutional, stating that the “massive, unchecked power” exercised by its director, Richard Cordray, lacks...more
Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued its much-anticipated decision in PHH Corp. v. CFPB, No. 15-1177 (D.C. Cir., Oct. 11, 2016). In its 110-page decision, the three-judge panel deemed the Consumer...more
During the “Developments at the CFPB” panel this morning at the Pennsylvania Bar Institute Consumer Financial Services & Banking Law Update program in Philadelphia, Jeffrey Ehrlich, the CFPB’s Deputy Enforcement Director,...more
In its decision last week in PHH Corporation v. CFPB, the D.C. Circuit ruled that the CFPB’s single-director-removable-only-for-cause structure is unconstitutional. While the D.C. Circuit (in footnote 19) noted that it “need...more
On Tuesday the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals issued what is already being touted as a landmark ruling in PHH Corp. v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, No. 15-1177, 2016 WL 5898801 (D.C. Cir. Oct. 11, 2016), holding in a...more
In a decision eagerly awaited by the financial services industry, the D.C. Circuit this week handed the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) a major defeat, throwing out a mortgage lender’s $109 million disgorgement...more
In a news-making decision with significant political implications, but probably limited near-term business or legal effects, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit held on Tuesday, October 11,...more
On October 11, 2016, the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued its long-awaited opinion in PHH Corp. v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, in which the Court held that the structure of the Consumer...more