Mortgage servicers should prepare for increased scrutiny of their default servicing activities. Earlier this week, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB” or “Bureau”), along with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the National Credit Union Administration, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and state financial regulators, issued a statement that the agencies would resume their full supervision and enforcement of mortgage servicers, ending the flexible approach the agencies announced at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. This move is consistent with the Bureau’s March 2021 rescission of similar statements issued during the pandemic that provided temporary flexibilities to financial institutions.
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NYDFS Issues Pre-Proposed Rules to Implement New Commercial Financing Disclosure Law
The New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) has issued “pre-proposed” rules under New York’s commercial financing disclosure law that was enacted at the end of 2020. The pre-proposed rules are 45 pages long and were posted on the NYDFS website on September 21. Comments on the pre-proposed rules are due by October 1. There will be a longer comment period once a proposed rule is published in the State Register. The NYDFS aims to finalize the rules before the law takes effect on January 1, 2022.
The pre-proposed rules give the state’s commercial financing disclosure law, colloquially known as the “NY TILA,” the formal name of the “Commercial Finance Disclosure Law (CFDL).” The pre-proposed rules also define terms and provide detailed requirements for the content and formatting of the CFDL-required disclosures. The proposed definitions borrow heavily from, but do not exactly mirror, those under the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation’s (DPFI) proposed rules to implement its own commercial financing disclosure law. The lack of uniformity between the two states’ regulations will complicate compliance for commercial financers subject to both laws. Where the NYDFS rules borrow most substantially from the California rules, the NYDFS tends to draw from the prior version of those rules, before the DFPI’s second round of modifications issued August 9, 2021. This raises the question of whether the NYDFS will incorporate California’s latest modifications when the NYDFS issues the next version of its proposed rules.
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California Licensing Update
The California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (“DFPI” or the “Department”) will have no shortage of applications to process before year end. Last week, the DFPI reminded industry participants that, beginning on September 1, 2021, it will make available through the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System (“NMLS”) the application needed to apply for a license under the Debt Collection Licensing Act (“DCLA”). Passed in September of 2020, the DCLA (SB 908) requires any person engaged in the business of debt collection, which includes debt buyers, to apply for a license on or before Friday, December 31, 2021, in order to continue to operate as a debt collector in California when the DCLA goes into effect on January 1, 2022. Failure to submit an application by the December 31st application deadline will preclude a debt collector from lawfully operating as a debt collector until the issuance of a license (Fin. Code §§ 100000.5, 100001(a)). For more details, the DFPI has published a series of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) at: Debt Collectors: Frequently Asked Questions | The Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (ca.gov).
Also, nearly two years after publishing a Notice or Proposed Rulemaking that will require all California Financing Law (“CFL”) licenses to be issued through the NMLS, and one day prior to an extended NMLS maintenance period (covered in our prior blog post), the DFPI announced that existing CFL licensees are now eligible to begin transitioning their licenses to the NMLS. Oddly, the announcement was made two days prior to the July 22nd end date for the comment period relating to the most recently proposed modifications to the proposed rules (see Fifth Notice of Modifications to Proposed Regulations). Upon final approval of the regulations, it is expected that all CFL licenses will be issued through the NMLS by December 31, 2021. This change may not be welcome for entities that do not presently have an NMLS record because establishing a Company Record through the NMLS to transition an existing CFL license onto the system is a separate process that takes time and effort.
Given the typical processing times (usually 90 days) for CFL license applications and the upcoming NMLS renewal period that begins on November 1, 2021, CFL licensees that do not have an existing NMLS Company Record should consider starting the transition process sooner rather than later.
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NMLS and NMLS Consumer Access Scheduled to Take a Summer Break
As many of us look forward to our summer vacations, the NMLS also has plans to take time off this summer. Due to system maintenance, beginning Wednesday, July 21 at 8:00 p.m. ET, the NMLS and NMLS Consumer Access will be unavailable for four full days, July 22 through July 25, with an anticipated return to operations on Monday July 26 at 7:00 a.m. ET. This maintenance period is significantly longer than previous maintenance periods, which typically occur over a weekend. The system will be completely inaccessible during this time, meaning that all Company and Individual users will be unable to log into their record to make any filings or amendments to the record, or to review any status updates or licensing deficiencies. Regulators also will be unable to access the NMLS or NMLS Consumer Access during this maintenance period. The NMLS Call Center will remain open during the system maintenance.
Below, we offer a few suggestions for users to ensure you and/or your Company are ready for the upcoming NMLS maintenance period:
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FHA Issues Guidance on Eligibility of DACA Recipients
As we detailed in our prior Legal Update, on January 19, 2021, the FHA expanded eligibility to apply for FHA-insured mortgages to individuals residing in the United States under the DACA program by waiving certain FHA Handbook requirements.[1] On May 28, 2021, the FHA published Mortgagee Letter 2021-12, which clarifies FHA’s existing eligibility requirements for DACA participants and other non-permanent residents who apply for FHA loans and implements the eligibility requirements instituted by the prior waiver into the HUD Handbook.[2]
Specifically, non-permanent residents, including DACA participants, individuals with refugee or asylee status, citizens of the Freely Associated States (“FAS”)[3] and individuals with an H-1B visa, must meet the following requirements:
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New York Expands Coverage of Commercial Financing Disclosure
As expected, New York has broadened the reach of its new commercial financing disclosure law less than two months after its enactment.
S.B. 5470 imposed a range of Truth in Lending-like disclosure requirements on a variety of commercial financing transactions. On February 16, 2021, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed S.B. 898 into law, clarifying
NY Enacts TILA-Like Disclosure Law for Business Loans and Purchases of Receivables (Factors, MCA Providers, Fintechs, Commercial Lenders—Take Note)
In late December 2020, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed S.B. 5470 into law, which will impose a range of Truth in Lending Act-like disclosure requirements on providers of commercial financing in amounts of $500,000 or less. The law will have a significant impact on providers beyond traditional commercial lenders, as it broadly defines “commercial
California Becomes the Latest State to License Debt Collectors
On September 25, California Governor Newsom signed Senate Bill 908, enacting the Debt Collection Licensing Act (the “DCLA”), placing California with the majority of states that require consumer debt collectors to be licensed. Subject to a few exemptions, persons engaging in the business of debt collection in California (including debt buyers) will be required to submit a license application before January 1, 2022. Senate Bill 908 is just one of a number of consumer protection bills enacted in California in recent days, including a bill creating the state’s “mini-CFPB.”
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Mayer Brown Announces Consumer Finance Licensing Team Transition
Mayer Brown is pleased to announce that Krista Cooley, a partner in our Financial Services Regulatory and Enforcement group, has recently expanded her existing practice to take the lead in managing our state licensing practice. Krista is an experienced Consumer Financial Services attorney with over 19 years of experience. In this role, Krista advises clients on compliance with the requirements of federal and state laws governing the licensing, approvals and practices of brokers, lenders, purchasers and servicers of mortgages and other consumer loan products, as well as sales finance companies, money service businesses and collection agencies. She also assists clients in navigating the complex state and federal licensing and approval process in connection with, among others, new business lines, legal entity conversions, restructuring and change of control transactions.
Stacey Riggin, one of our Government Affairs Advisors, and Dana Lopez, our Licensing Manager, work closely with Krista and will continue to oversee our team of five regulatory compliance analysts, each of whom has over ten years of experience working together on licensing matters. Our team has decades of experience in managing nationwide licensing projects and assisting clients in obtaining approval with state and federal government agencies to engage in a variety of financial services related activities. Our team also coordinates regulatory approvals needed to facilitate mergers, equity investments, stock and asset acquisitions, and servicing sales and transfers.
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CFPB Provides Relief to Servicers Offering Loss Mitigation in Wake of Pandemic
Earlier this week the CFPB released an interim final rule that allows mortgage servicers flexibility to offer additional short-term loss mitigation options to borrowers impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The mortgage servicing rules include many requirements for the servicing of mortgage loans in default, including limitations on the types of loss mitigation that may be offered in certain instances. The unique challenges facing servicers and borrowers in the wake of the pandemic, as well as the unique loss mitigation options being announced by federal housing agencies designed to assist borrowers negatively impacted by COVID-19 that do not fit neatly into the CFPB’s existing servicing requirements, have prompted the CFPB to amend those rules to provide servicers with additional flexibility.
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