August 1, 2015 will mark a historic change in the real estate industry that first saw its beginning after the financial meltdown in 2008. Over the past few years, the entire financial industry has experienced a major overhaul in its policies and procedures designed to protect the consumer. You may or may not have heard an Equitable National Title Group representative refer to ALTA's Best Practices in the past few months. To understand the intent of Best Practices and how it will impact everyone in the Real Estate industry, we thought we would share a little about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the consumer watchdog created in the aftermath of the financial meltdown.
The CFPB writes and enforces rules in many areas, including mortgage lending. The CFPB has created new regulations to increase transparency for consumers. While the upcoming changes might be viewed as sudden, they have actually been some five years in the making. Take a brief moment to look at the history of the CFPB:
The goals of the CFPB are to create easier to use mortgage disclosure forms, improve consumer understanding, aid comparison shopping, and prevent surprises at the closing table. As a result the CFPB has implemented new rules and even required TILA-RESPA integrated disclosures.
In April 2012 the CFPB released a bulletin mandating that mortgage bank lenders monitor the compliance of their third-party vendors, making lenders legally responsible for ensuring these third-parties are performing their duties as to comply with these regulations. The American Land Title association has implemented a guideline of "Best Practices" that sets the standard of expectations for title companies and closing professionals across the country. Best Practices is a guideline that, when followed correctly, ensures compliance with CFPB regulations. Lenders are already openly supporting Best Practices and some have even mandated the use of title companies that have obtained third-party certification in Best Practices. Equitable National Title Group, LLC is proud to announce that we are the 1st Title Company in Central Florida to obtain third-party certification in Best Practices.
DISCLAIMER:
Equitable National Title Group, LLC and the Author of this article are not
representing legal positions for, or using this article to inform readers how to address the regulations and issues discussed. Rather, this is an informational piece to the readers of certain aspects of the regulations presented and to promote thoughtful and constructive discussion.
