Posted by Brian Wolfman on Wednesday, June 09, 2010 at 02:17 PM in Predatory Lending | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Posted by Brian Wolfman on Wednesday, June 09, 2010 at 11:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
by Jeff Sovern
Buried deeply within the House financial reform bill--beginning at page 1472--is the Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act. This bill has no precise analog in the Senate bill, though some of its provisions are echoed in the Senate CFPB bill (in my slides, I didn't discuss this bill, except to the extent that the Senate bill included the same or similar provisions). I haven't seen much about the MRAPLA in the media or, for that matter, the blogosphere, but, based on a quick look, some of its provisions seem very important. For example, § 9002 requires mortgage originators to "diligently work to present the consumer with a range of residential loan products for which the consumer likely qualifies and are appropriate to the consumer's existing circumstances;" to disclose to consumers the "comparative costs and benefits" of each loan discussed by the originator; and to tell the consumer if the originator is "acting as an agent for the consumer." Section 9106 prohibits arbitration clauses. The MRAPLA also includes a subtitle on high-cost mortgages. I'm not sure what will become of these provisions, but I hope some of the MRAPLA makes it into the final bill. If someone has studied the MRAPLA and has summarized its provisions, I hope you will post the summary in the comments below or email them to me.
Posted by Jeff Sovern on Tuesday, June 08, 2010 at 03:53 PM in Consumer Legislative Policy | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Posted by Brian Wolfman on Tuesday, June 08, 2010 at 10:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
The FTC has announced a $108 million settlement with Countrywide (i.e. Bank of America) in connection with its mortgage servicing practices. The settlement and complaint are available at the FTC web site.
Posted by Alan White on Monday, June 07, 2010 at 06:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Posted by Brian Wolfman on Monday, June 07, 2010 at 02:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Posted by Christopher Peterson on Monday, June 07, 2010 at 02:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
Posted by Brian Wolfman on Sunday, June 06, 2010 at 01:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Posted by Brian Wolfman on Friday, June 04, 2010 at 09:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
by Paul Alan Levy
FIFA, the world soccer federation, is back at it, trying to enforce the right to forbid any mention of the World Cup on merchandise. But the silliness has apparently reached new heights as this video portrays the South African police out there conducting a publicity campaign against the sale of "fake flags."
Posted by Paul Levy on Friday, June 04, 2010 at 02:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)