WASHINGTON—CUNA has reminded the CFPB that while it may be seeking to provide assistance to CUs with changes to TILA/RESPA rules, any changes create a burden on credit unions as the result of the need for training, revisions to various materials, and more.
In a comment letter to the CFPB on its proposed amendments to the 2013 Mortgage Servicing Rules, Regulation Z, which implements the Truth in Lending Act (TILA), and Regulation X, which implements the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), CUNA called on CFPB “to work closely with CUNA, credit unions, and credit union leagues as it develops rules so that any subsequent revisions or ‘clarifications’ maximize regulatory relief without undermining statutory objectives.”
In its letter CUNA outlined some of the specific changes that will affect credit unions, and asked CFPB to mitigate the impact of some of the provisions by “laying out a process under which servicers can and should identify and communicate with successors in interest. Compliance with such a process as articulated by the Bureau should then afford servicers a form of safe harbor under the rule.”
CUNA said it is also concerned with the Bureau’s acknowledgement that successors in interest covered by the proposed rule would not necessarily have assumed the mortgage loan obligation under state law. “The proposed rule would not affect this question but would apply with respect to a successor in interest regardless of whether that person has assumed the mortgage loan obligation under state law,” CUNA wrote. “We have concern with the implications this proposed provision could have with regard to privacy laws, including under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. We are unclear whether and/or how the proposal will conflict with such privacy laws, but we ask the Bureau to provide clarification—potentially in the form of staff commentary—on this issue.”
CUNA also offered comment on definition of delinquency, requests for information, force-placed insurance, early intervention, loss mitigation, prompt payment crediting, periodic statements, and small servicers.