| Wednesday, August 20, 2008
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Federal Moratorium on FHA Risk-based Premiums |
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Early this morning, President Bush signed into law the massive housing finance bill (HR 3221) known as the “Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008” (the “Act”). Section 2133 of the Act places a 12-month moratorium on implementation of FHA’s risk-based premiums for single family mortgage insurance set out in Mortgagee Letter 2008-16, which became effective July 14, 2008. (See our memorandum dated July 2, 2008.)
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FRB Announces Final Rule Amending Regulation Z |
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The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (FRB) announced today that it has approved its final rule amending Regulation Z. Please see our memo of March 7, 2008, discussing the proposed rule (published in the January 9, 2008 issue of the Federal Register) which formed the basis of today’s final rule. Fortunately, lenders will have a long lead-time to prepare for the new requirements in the final rule, as it does not become effective until October 1, 2009.
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Home Equity Lending – Revisions to Interpretations |
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The Finance Commission of Texas and the Texas Credit Union Commission (“Commissions”) have jointly revised the following home equity Interpretations: §153.22 (Copies of Documents) and §153.84 (Restrictions on Devices and Methods to Obtain a HELOC Advance) to comply with the December 4, 2007 amendments to §§50(a)(6) and (t)(3), Article XVI, of the Texas Constitution. These revised Interpretations are published in the July 4, 2008 issue of the Texas Register and became effective July 10, 2008.
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RESPA: Proposed Rule to amend Regulation X |
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The proposed rule is intended to: (i) revise and standardize the Good Faith Estimate (GFE); (ii) ensure that page one of the GFE provides a clear summary of the loan terms and total settlement charges; (iii) provide more accurate estimates of costs of settlement services shown on the GFE; (iv) improve disclosure of yield spread premiums; (v) facilitate comparison of the GFE and the HUD-1/HUD-1A Settlement Statements; (vi) ensure that at settlement borrowers are made aware of final loan terms and settlement costs, by reading and providing a copy of a closing script to borrowers; (vii) clarify HUD-1 instructions; (viii) clarify regulations concerning discounts; and (ix) expressly state when RESPA permits certain pricing mechanisms, including average cost pricing and discounts, and volume based discounts.
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FHA Mortgagee Letter 2008-17 - Non FHA-approved Mo |
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The above captioned Mortgagee Letter was issued June 20, 2008 to remind lenders of existing FHA policy regarding the use of non FHA-approved mortgage brokers when originating FHA-insured mortgages. A copy of ML 2008-17 is attached.
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TEXAS HOME EQUITY ENGLISH 12 DAY NOTICE |
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Available for download is the Texas Home Equity English 12 Day Notice
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Home Equity Lending – Proposed Amendments |
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The Finance Commission of Texas and the Texas Credit Union Commission (“Commissions”) jointly propose amendments to Interpretations 7 TAC §§ 153.22, 153.51, and 153.84 relating to interpretations of Sections 50(a)(6), (g), and (t)(3), Article XVI, Texas Constitution, regarding home equity lending on Texas homestead. These proposed amendments are published for comment in the March 14, 2008 issue of the Texas Register (Vol. 33, No. 11).
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Home Equity Mortgage Lending in TX Manual |
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This manual discusses in depth Home Equity Mortgage Lending in Texas.
This Manual was updated as of February 2008. For older versions of this manual, please see the Home Equity Training manual Archive here.
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Proposed amendments to Regulation Z (Federal Regis |
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On January 9, 2008, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (“Board”) proposed significant amendments to Regulation Z, which are discussed in this memorandum. We believe these proposed amendments will have a dramatic impact on the way mortgage lending is conducted if the Board adopts them, as proposed.
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Texas Home Lending - 2008 Update |
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This memorandum will provide an overview of home equity lending embodied in Article XVI, Section 50, of the Texas Constitution and will also discuss some of the issues lenders face. The full text of Section 50, current to date, is attached to this memorandum (for ease of reference, the home equity and HELOC provisions are highlighted in bold typeface). All references in this memorandum to “sections”, “subsections”, and “parts” refer to the various provisions of Section 50, unless otherwise stated.
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