Florida Association of Mortgage Brokers

Government Affairs Update by Thomas Morcom, FAMB GA Chair

The Federal Reserve Proposes Elimination of Yield Spread Premium Payments to Mortgage Brokers

The Federal Reserve has issued regulations to element the loan officers being compensated by yield spread premiums.

They are currently awaiting your comments on these proposed regulations!

Loan Originator Compensation - The proposal contains new limits on originator compensation. The proposed changes include:

· Prohibiting certain payments to a mortgage broker or a loan officer that are based on the loan's terms and conditions.

· Prohibiting a mortgage broker or loan officer from "steering" consumers to transactions that are not in their interest in order to increase the mortgage broker's or loan officer's compensation.

You can read how to comment on this Federal Reserve proposal and to learn more about the possible elimination of mortgage brokers yield spread premium at the Federal Reserve's web page, www.federalreserve.gov/. Just go to the Press Release for July 23, 2009 and read what you need to know.

HUD Set to Require RESPA Changes January 2010 ... Are You Ready?

HUD ANNOUNCES RESTRAINT IN RESPA ENFORCEMENT FOR FIRST FOUR MONTHS OF NEW RULE

Aimed at mortgage professionals making good faith effort to comply with new requirements

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced that for the first four months of 2010, the staff of the Mortgagee Review Board (MRB) will exercise restraint in enforcing new regulatory requirements under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), due to take full effect on January 1. The MRB instructed its staff to exercise such restraint in considering an action against FHA-approved lenders who have demonstrated that they are making a good faith effort to comply with RESPA's new requirements.

But HUD still expects compliance beginning January 1, 2010
Federal Housing Commissioner David Stevens said in that the new disclosure forms and procedures would be implemented in January 2010 as scheduled.

HUD is requiring that loan originators provide borrowers with a standard Good Faith Estimate that clearly discloses key loan terms and closing costs and that closing agents provide borrowers with a new HUD-1 settlement statement. New RESPA regulations are scheduled to take full effect on January 1, 2010.

To learn more about these new disclosure requirements review the "New RESPA Rule FAQs" found on the web page fha.gov/RESPA. These questions were comprised from industry questions and are posted to facilitate implementation of these new requirements.

Commissioner Stevens says "HUD is acutely aware of the procedural concerns, timing constraints, and ancillary costs attributable to the implementation of these new regulatory requirements and the issues they raise." He also pointed out that the final RESPA rule was published on November 17, 2008 - meaning that the industry has had 14 months to get with the program.

State Issues

NMLS - Nationwide Mortgage Licensing Update - Your First Step

To get credit for NMLS pre-licensure courses you must have a unique identifier number from NMLS. If you are a member of FAMB you can launch your request for a unique identifier number from the web page www.famb.org.

Join Florida Association of Mortgage Brokers - If you are not a member of the Florida Association of Mortgage Brokers shouldn't you join and make sure FAMB continues to work for you in Tallahassee and Washington?

Contribute to the Florida Association of Mortgage Brokers PAC - If you are already a member of the Florida Association of Mortgage Brokers shouldn't you contribute to the association's PAC and make sure FAMB continues to work for you in Tallahassee and Washington?