Comment Letters

Meeting the deadline to submit comments to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau regarding the combined mortgage disclosures it is creating, the American Land Title Association submitted its latest comment letter, noting that the form is progressing, but still misses the mark on some points.

The American Land Title Association wrote a comment letter to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau regarding its proposal to amend the Truth in Lending Act and its definition of the finance charge for residential mortgages.

Less than a week after the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau extended the comment period on its proposed “all-in” APR, the American Land Title Association, American Escrow Association and several other real estate industry trade organizations shared their concerns about the proposal and its potential impact.

While many in the title and settlement services industry are lobbying to maintain the job of mortgage disclosure preparation, others, such as members of the Escrow Institute of California, are wary of continuing in that role. The EIC wrote a comment letter to the CFPB on the issue.

After receiving information from concerned members regarding third party vetting agencies, the Texas Land Title Association sent a letter to the Texas Department of Insurance, highlighting the concerns it has been hearing.

The American Land Title Association took advantage of the extended comment period to respond to the Consumer Financial Protection’s request for comments regarding how to streamline its inherited regulations by providing the CFPB with recommendations to RESPA’s average charge regulation.

These comments represent our thoughts on the CFPB’s memorandum dated February 21, 2012, entitled “Outline of Proposals Under Consideration and Alternatives Considered” (the Outline). We commend the CFPB for issuing this broad outline setting the regulatory context for the delivery of the reformed mortgage disclosures. It is important that all stakeholders work towards an improved mortgage disclosure system. In this sense, we believe that the objective of this reform process is not the mere issuance of a regulation. The real goal for all stakeholders is to ensure that we achieve a balanced and efficient set of rules to guide mortgage disclosures for the next generation. The true objective, as mandated by the Dodd-Frank Act, is to craft a solid and clear regulatory system that well accompanies a combination of two laws’ disclosures to so that they properly inform and protect consumers.

Shortly after the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released its second round of prototypes for combined HUD-1/Truth in Lending (TIL) disclosures on Dec. 13, 2011, the American Land Title Association’s RESPA Task Force provided its thoughts on the latest prototypes, the Mimosa and Sassafras forms, in a comment letter.