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Lessons learned from Meridian
Posted Date: Monday, October 9, 2017
The latest consent order from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau with Meridian Title Corp. gave industry members a lot to think about their relationships with industry partners and how they disclose those relationships. Several industry experts shared their thoughts with The Legal Description regarding how they see this order potentially impacting the industry going forward.
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CFPB order focuses on agent, underwriter relationship
Posted Date: Wednesday, September 27, 2017
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced an enforcement action today against one of the largest independent title agents in the country, saying that the agent failed to disclose its affiliated relationship with its underwriter and illegally benefitted from the referrals for title insurance. Read on for more details.
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Homeowners seek suit under Try Title statute
Posted Date: Wednesday, September 27, 2017
Massachusetts homeowners brought a post-foreclosure suit under the state’s Try Title statute, seeking to undo the foreclosure by asserting that the bank did not hold the note at the time of foreclosure, as required under Eaton v. Federal National Mortgage Association. Read on for more details.
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Easement dispute hinges on 1958 grant deed
Posted Date: Wednesday, September 27, 2017
Homeowners in Hollywood Hills, Calif., brought suits and countersuits regarding an easement containing a driveway over one property from the adjacent property. The parties sought interpretation of a 2958 grant deed to determine the rights of each party. Read on for more details.
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Homeowner seeks foreclosure relief in note dispute case
Posted Date: Wednesday, September 27, 2017
A California homeowner filed suit for foreclosure relief, arguing that his note and mortgage were separately distributed against state law and that the assignment of the deed of trust to his property was therefore invalid and the foreclosure void. Read on for more details.
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Title, settlement industry, others urge vote on HUD General Counsel
Posted Date: Wednesday, September 27, 2017
The American Land Title Association and American Escrow Association were among 28 industry associations that signed a letter urging Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer to hold a vote on the appointee for the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s General Counsel. Read on for more details.
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Final defendant sentenced in long-term fraud investigation
Posted Date: Wednesday, September 27, 2017
The final defendant in a long running investigation of mortgage fraud at Pierce Commercial Bank was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Tacoma. The former loan officer pleaded guilty in May 2017 to making false statements on loan applications. Read on for more details.
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Mineral rights dispute muddies bankruptcy
Posted Date: Monday, September 25, 2017
After a widow reopened a bankruptcy proceeding to include mineral rights, her daughter-in-law, who purchased some of the property those mineral rights were attached to from the widow, filed an adversary proceeding, claiming to own those mineral rights. This dispute carried over from a state-court dispute that had been filed shortly after the bankruptcy case originally closed. Read on for more details.
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Man seeks to void title after discovery of beneficial interest holder
Posted Date: Monday, September 25, 2017
After an obligor on a deed of trust defaulted, triggering a non-judicial foreclosure, the owner of the property resisted scheduled trustees sales while discovering the correct trustee and beneficiary of the deed. Once the trustee was discovered, he filed suit to quiet title. The case eventually went before the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Read on for more details.
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New York DFS launches information, guidance on vacant and abandoned properties
Posted Date: Monday, September 25, 2017
New York Department of Financial Services launched a series of information sessions on a new law to combat the blight of vacant and abandoned properties and issued new guidance to ensure that banks and mortgage servicers comply with their obligations to maintain vacant and abandoned properties. Read on for more details.
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Court finds mortgage rescue firm mislead consumers
Posted Date: Monday, September 25, 2017
A federal court has found that Jeremy Foti and Charles Marshall, acting through Brookstone Law and Advantis Law, “made numerous false and/or misleading material statements to consumers” when selling legal services for purported mortgage relief.
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ALTA, industry associations urge GSE reform
Posted Date: Monday, September 25, 2017
The American Land Title Association, Mortgage Bankers Association, Real Estate Service Providers Council Inc. and other industry associations sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Melvin Watt, urging them to continue working on reforming the government-sponsored enterprises. Read on for more details.
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Texas Gov. Abbott appoints new insurance commissioner
Posted Date: Monday, September 25, 2017
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott appointed a new commissioner of insurance. The position has been vacant since Commissioner David Mattax died on April 13. Read on for more information about the new head of the Texas Department of Insurance.
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Home improvement loan leads to foreclosure dispute
Posted Date: Wednesday, September 20, 2017
After a bank filed a foreclosure action against her property on a loan used for home repairs that were not completed, a New Jersey homeowner filed counterclaims alleging that the home improvement contractor, with the knowing or unknowing assistance of a mortgage broker and title company, swindled money she borrowed from a mortgage company. The case eventually went before the Superior Court of New Jersey Appellate Division.
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New York DFS issues guidance after Equifax breach
Posted Date: Wednesday, September 20, 2017
After the massive data breach at Equifax impacting an estimated 143 million U.S. customers, the New York Department of Financial Services issued guidance to all of its regulated entitles relating to the breach. Read on for more details.
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Dispute arises over acknowledgment of signature to homestead property
Posted Date: Wednesday, September 20, 2017
When his building company could not sell a home it had built, the manager and his then-wife purchased the property, which became their homestead. In purchasing the property, they signed two promissory notes, the first of which was not property acknowledged by the notary. When the manager defaulted on the note and Mutual filed suit for judicial foreclosure, the manager counterclaimed. Read on for more details.
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Homeowner sues for alleged malicious foreclosure
Posted Date: Wednesday, September 20, 2017
A homeowner filed suit against parties that foreclosed on his Chula Vista, Calif., home alleging that the parties maliciously foreclosed on the property. Read on for more details.
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Report shows year-over-year increase in mortgage fraud risk
Posted Date: Wednesday, September 20, 2017
CoreLogic released its latest Mortgage Fraud Report, showing that at the end of the second quarter of 2017, there was a 16.9 percent year-over-year increase in fraud risk. Read on for more details.
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Atlanta man sentenced for bank fraud
Posted Date: Wednesday, September 20, 2017
An Atlanta, Georgia man was sentenced to three years in prison, followed by five years of supervised release, for his role in a bank fraud scheme that resulted in losses of approximately $2.7 million.
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Court determines coverage under liability insurer
Posted Date: Monday, September 18, 2017
As assignee under a professional liability insurance policy, a national title insurer filed suit against a professional liability insurer for breach of contract for not fulfilling its obligation to defend its policy holder, a title agency, in the suit the title insurer brought against it. Read on for more details.
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ALTA weighs in on TRID Improvement Act
Posted Date: Monday, September 18, 2017
During the hearing of the House Financial Services Committee Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit Subcommittee regarding legislative proposals for a more efficient federal financial regulatory regime, the American Land Title Association provided a statement for the record on the TRID Improvement Act of 2017, one of the bills being discussed at the hearing. Read on for more details.
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Unknown back taxes lead to title suit
Posted Date: Monday, September 18, 2017
After discovering delinquent taxes resulting from the seller’s ongoing dispute with the board of revision’s decision to assign the property a higher valuation than the seller thought should be, the purchaser was told that the tax dispute would not be an issue. The sale was completed and the tax appeals were resolved, after which time the buyer received a significant tax bill. The buyer sued its title agent for failing to provide it information regarding the potential property tax issues. Read on for more details.
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Illinois amends predatory lending database statute
Posted Date: Monday, September 18, 2017
Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner signed legislation that amends the Predatory Lending Database Article of the Residential Real Property Disclosure Act. Among other things, it makes changes to the information that must be collected and submitted by the title insurance company or closing agent. Read on for more details.
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New Jersey lawyer sentenced in conspiracy
Posted Date: Monday, September 18, 2017
New Jersey Attorney General Christopher S. Porrino announced that a lawyer from Essex County was sentenced to state prison for conspiring with others to steal approximately $873,520 from a lender by using stolen identities to file fraudulent mortgage loan applications for two bogus real estate transactions, falsifying settlement statements and diverting loan proceeds.
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Closing coordinator sentenced for embezzlement
Posted Date: Monday, September 18, 2017
The former title closing coordinator at an Oklahoma real estate company was sentenced to time in prison for making a forged security and filing a false tax return in connection with his embezzlement of more than $250,000 from the company. Read on for more details.
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