Nanci Weissgold, partner in Alston & Bird’s Financial Services & Products Group and co-leader of the Consumer Finance Regulatory Compliance team, participated in a panel discussion on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) proposed amendments to the Mortgage Servicing rule during National Mortgage News’ 9th Annual Mortgage Servicing Conference.
The proposed amendments affect nine areas for mortgage services, including: successors in interest, delinquency definitions, information requests, forced-place insurance, early intervention, loss mitigation, periodic statements, prompt payment crediting and small servicer exemption.
“One of the issues with regard to delinquency and servicing is really the question of well, is that the same as default,” Weissgold said. “The definition of default is very significant for Fair Debt Collection Practices Act purposes for determining when a loan is subject to those additional protections. When is the servicer or subservicer considered a debt collector? Unfortunately, the CFPB didn’t really give any guidance on that question in this proposed rulemaking.”
According to Weissgold, the CFPB currently is reviewing the collected comments and has yet to issue the finalized amendments, which will take effect 280 days after they are published in the Federal Register.
The proposed amendments affect nine areas for mortgage services, including: successors in interest, delinquency definitions, information requests, forced-place insurance, early intervention, loss mitigation, periodic statements, prompt payment crediting and small servicer exemption.
“One of the issues with regard to delinquency and servicing is really the question of well, is that the same as default,” Weissgold said. “The definition of default is very significant for Fair Debt Collection Practices Act purposes for determining when a loan is subject to those additional protections. When is the servicer or subservicer considered a debt collector? Unfortunately, the CFPB didn’t really give any guidance on that question in this proposed rulemaking.”
According to Weissgold, the CFPB currently is reviewing the collected comments and has yet to issue the finalized amendments, which will take effect 280 days after they are published in the Federal Register.