News By Edition

Finalizing a mandate first proposed in 2023, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) new rule concerning Property Assessed Clean Energy loans aims to prevent exploitative lending practices targeting energy-conscious residential borrowers.

The Legal Description spoke with mortgage consultant David Friend, former senior counsel at the CFPB, about the impact of the new rule.

As the Federal Housing Finance Agency moves forward with an initiative to waive lender title insurance requirements for select Fannie Mae loans, members of Congress from both sides of the aisle continue to call for greater scrutiny and oversight.

As awareness of deed theft has increased, so has awareness of a related crime: notary theft. Technology has made it easier to steal a notary’s identity or seal. Industry experts talked with The Legal Description about what’s being done to combat this fraud.

Missouri legislators are considering a bill that would set comprehensive, state-level safety and preparedness standards for data security and cybersecurity investigations conducted by licensees working on behalf of insurers.

According to an alert by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, fraudsters are reportedly exploiting the agency’s insignia and even its registration and reporting infrastructure in service of crimes, including intercepting beneficial ownership information reports.

Using falsified lien payoff statements, fraudulent warranty deeds and misleading emails, a resident of McAllen, Texas, profited from multiple deceptive transactions with buyers and lenders as an employee of Sierra Title.

In its Equitable Housing Finance Plan for 2025-2027, Fannie Mae laid out its expectations for its Title Acceptance pilot, including the number of lenders it will enroll in the title insurance waiver program. It also set goals for expanding the use of attorney opinion letters.

In the last few years, threat actors have looked increasingly at local governments. This causes a headache for many aspects of their work, including at the recorder’s office. This can subsequently cause issues for the title companies that record transactions in their offices. A panel of experts shared ways for government and industry members to protect themselves from these attacks.

The FBI sent out an alert about criminals using generative artificial intelligence in their schemes to commit fraud on a larger scale.

A bill has been introduced to the Missouri General Assembly that would expand the definition of “certified funds” in the statute regulating the use of funds by real estate settlement and title insurance agents.

A bill has been introduced to the Missouri General Assembly that would create The Real Property Fraud Prevention Act.

The Federal Housing Administration updated its requirements for reporting cyber incidents to provide clarity and align with requirements from other agencies.

A realty company sued their title insurer seeking indemnification and defense after several third parties alleged claims adverse to, or defects with, the title to property it purchased in Catskill, N.Y. The court denied the realty company’s motion for partial summary judgement and granted the insurer’s motion for summary judgment. The realty company appealed.

The Supreme Court of South Carolina disbarred an attorney and title agency owner for misappropriating loan proceeds for multiple clients and failing to use loan funds to pay off clients’ mortgages.

The Nevada Legislature is considering revisions to provisions relating to requests for public records.

Acting Maryland Insurance Commissioner Marie Grant named Joy Hatchette as deputy commissioner of the Maryland Insurance Administration (MIA).

The manager of a real estate agency was sentenced to more than three years in prison in connection with fraudulent short sales of properties to straw buyers acting under his direction.

In light of Texas Top Cop Shop Inc., et al. v. Garland, et al., companies are “not currently required” to file beneficial ownership information with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) by the Jan. 1, 2025, deadline, FinCEN said in an alert posted on its website.

Two property owners sought their underwriter’s help in defending against a rescission claim. A trial court ruled the underwriter had no duty to defend the insured because the suit alleged claims against the property owners purportedly not covered by their policy. They appealed.

While other types of cyber fraud have been a large area of focus the last few years, ransomware remains a significant threat to businesses of all shapes and sizes. Industry experts share insights into the latest trends they are seeing and ways to protect against these threats.

The Nevada Legislature is considering revisions to provisions related to notaries public and document preparation services, including adopting a code of professional responsibility.

A Missouri man who helped launder millions of dollars obtained via fraud, including a business email compromise wire fraud scheme involving a Florida title company, was sentenced to prison and ordered to repay $2.3 million.

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas granted a request for a preliminary injunction to temporarily block the Corporate Transparency Act’s beneficial ownership information reporting requirements for small businesses from going into effect on Jan. 1, 2025.

The California Privacy Protection Agency has planned a public hearing for January to consider comments on its proposed rulemaking concerning updates to regulations related to data privacy requirements for insurance companies, among other things.

The cyber division of the FBI issued a private industry notification about the concerning trend of government email addresses being used to send fraudulent emergency data requests to U.S.-based companies, exposing personally identifying information.

Experian’s 12th annual Data Breach Industry Forecast predicts a range of potential cybersecurity trends in 2025, with artificial intelligence (AI) at the forefront.

Three Texas women were indicted and charged in connection with a mortgage fraud scheme in the Eastern District of Texas.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency approved a final rule to allow National Flood Insurance Program policyholders the option of paying their annual premium in monthly installments.