Borrowers in rural communities now have expanded financing options, thanks to the USDA’s updated loan guidelines. For the first time, existing manufactured homes may be eligible for USDA-guaranteed loans. Previously, only new manufactured homes purchased through approved dealers qualified for USDA financing. Under the new policy, homes may now be eligible as long as they […]
The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) announced last month that it is ending the COVID-19 era loss mitigation waterfall. In Mortgagee Letter 2025-12, FHA indicated that the COVID-19 loss mitigation options, which were intended to be temporary, will officially sunset on September 30, 2025. The new permanent loss mitigation options previously scheduled to go into effect on […]
The controversial practice of credit bureaus selling information on consumers who had their credit pulled for purposes of applying for a mortgage or other loan is known as a “trigger lead.” Idaho and Utah were the latest states to address this issue by prohibiting lenders from using information obtained from a trigger lead to solicit […]
Fannie Mae has issued an Information Security and Business Resiliency Supplement (the “Supplement”) which includes new and updated requirements related to information security, incident management and business resiliency for both sellers and servicers. The Supplement consolidates requirements related to cybersecurity which were previously contained in the Selling Guide, Servicing Guide and Consolidated Technology Guide. In […]
The USDA’s Rural Housing Service has updated its mortgage recovery advance program (MRA) with the goal of eliminating or reducing documentation and eligibility challenges for defaulting borrowers. An MRA assists borrowers by advancing the funds necessary to pay off past due amounts and provide a principal reduction in an amount necessary to achieve a target […]
The Texas Department of Savings and Mortgage Lending (“Department”) issued updated rules relating to mortgage companies, loan originators, mortgage bankers, and mortgage servicers. The revisions are aimed at modernizing and updating the rules by adding and replacing language for clarity, removing unnecessary or duplicative provisions, and updating terminology. Mortgage Loan Originators, Mortgage Companies and Mortgage […]
In an effort to combat appraisal bias, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) along with both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (collectively the GSE’s) have issued new guidance to support borrowers who believe their appraisal to be inaccurate or deficient. Lenders are required to develop processes for handling a reconsideration of value […]
As of January 1, 2024, mortgage companies soliciting consumers in Illinois will need to ensure their marketing materials do not run afoul of the state’s new law designed to protect consumers from being misled. The new law provides that any marketing materials from a mortgage company with no connection to the consumer’s existing mortgage company […]
Beginning January 1st, loan originators in Illinois will be permitted to work from a remote locationprovided certain customer interaction and information security requirements are met. Previously, loanoriginators were only able to conduct business in locations licensed as a branch office.While many states issued temporary executive orders permitting remote work during the pandemic outof health and […]
Amid growing concerns with data security and consumer privacy, 2023 saw the addition of consumer privacy and data security legislation in multiple states. Below is a summary of the state laws aimed at protecting consumer’s private data that were enacted this past year: States with privacy protection laws in place prior to 2023 include California, […]
