(Feb. 4, 2022) A reminder that federally insured credit unions must comply with rules governing disclosure in mortgage loans, particularly those meeting four criteria, is outlined by NCUA in a “regulatory alert” issued this week.
In its regulatory alert 22-RA-01 (Home Mortgage Disclosure Act Data Collection Requirements for Calendar Year 2022), NCUA said credit unions making the home loans, and meeting the four criteria, must comply with the CFPB’s Regulation C, which implements the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA).
The agency stated that the rule requires credit unions (and other financial institutions) to collect HMDA data associated with mortgage loan applications processed during 2022 if the credit union:
- Has total assets of more than $50 million as of Dec. 31, 2021;
- Had a home or branch office in a Metropolitan Statistical Area on Dec. 31, 2021;
- Created at least one home purchase loan (other than temporary financing such as a construction loan) or refinanced a home purchase loan, secured by a first lien on a one-to-four unit dwelling during 2021; and
- Originated at least 100 covered closed-end mortgage loans in each of the two preceding calendar years (2020 and 2021) or at least 200 covered open-end lines of credit in each of the two preceding calendar years (2020 and 2021).
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(Jan. 7, 2022) A regulatory alert calling attention to threshold and fee adjustments – which are increasing for the new year — under truth in lending, consumer leasing and fair credit reporting regulations by the CFPB was distributed last week by NCUA.
The alert, sent to all federally insured credit unions, notes that last month the bureau issued final annual adjustments for the exemption thresholds outlined under the Truth in Lending Act (TILA or Regulation Z) and the Consumer Leasing Act (CLA or Regulation M). The alert also points out that CFPB issued an annual adjustment to the maximum amount credit bureaus may charge consumers for making a file disclosure to a consumer under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA or Regulation V).
More specifically:
- The Reg Z threshold (for appraisals for higher-priced mortgage loan exemptions) will increase to $28,500 from $27,200.
- The Reg M threshold (for consumer credit and consumer lease exemptions) will increase to $61,000 from $58,300.
- The Reg V ceiling (for credit bureau consumer report fees) will increase to $13.50 from $13.
The Reg Z and Reg M threshold changes are based on the annual increase in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) in effect as of June 1, 2021. The Reg V ceiling is based on the CPI for all urban consumers.
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(Dec. 3, 2021) A regulatory alert on Truth in Lending (Regulation Z) annual threshold adjustments for various loans – which take effect Jan. 1 — was issued this week by NCUA, following up on action taken by the CFPB earlier this fall.
The NCUA alert (RA-21-10) notes that the adjustments for credit cards, closed-end home equity loans and qualified mortgages (QMs) are based on the annual percentage change reflected in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) as of June 1, 2021. CFPB is required to calculate the dollar amounts for several provisions in Reg Z each year.
In late October, the bureau increased many, but not all, of the threshold dollar amounts for the loans covered under Reg Z. No change in the $1 threshold triggering minimum interest charge disclosure requirements on open-end consumer credit plans was made, for example.
For open-end credit plans under the CARD Act, there were increases to $30 in the adjusted dollar amount for safe harbor for a first violation penalty fee and to $41 in the threshold for a subsequent violation penalty fee. For HOEPA loans, the adjusted total loan amount threshold for high-cost mortgages in 2022 will be $22,969, the agency said; the adjusted points-and-fees dollar trigger will be $1,148.
For QMs, the changes are a bit more complicated, with various thresholds for the spread between the annual percentage rate (APR) and the average prime offer rate (APOR) in 2022. The changes are detailed in the alert.
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(Oct. 1, 2021) Credit unions may begin submitting data on credit card agreements with their members, and applying data submission requirements, to the CFPB’s website for collecting credit card information, NCUA said this week.
In a “regulatory alert,” the agency said credit unions may begin submitting data to the bureau’s “Collect” website using submission deadline dates of:
- Feb. 14, 2022, for terms of credit card plans (TCCP) survey data;
- Jan. 31, 2022, for quarterly credit card agreement submissions;
- March 31, 2022, for annual reports related to college credit card marketing agreements and data.
On Aug. 20, the consumer bureau issued new technical specifications for complying with credit card agreement and data submission requirements under the Truth in Lending Act (TILA) and the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) Act of 2009. In the specifications, the bureau said all submissions would be made via the agency’s Collect website beginning in January.
The Collect website has been available since July 2018 for those participating in the semiannual TCCP Survey. According to the bureau, 83% of survey submissions early this year were made via Collect.
NCUA, in the letter, reminded that credit unions selected to participate in the TCCP Survey or are required to submit an annual report of college student credit card agreements can register now. Any credit union with 10,000 or more credit card accounts as of any quarter-end is required to make quarterly credit card submissions to the CFPB, the credit union regulator said, and must register for Collect by Nov. 1, 2021.
“Once a credit union receives its login credentials, it will be able to review its current submissions and make the required submissions for the fourth quarter of calendar year 2021 starting on Dec. 1, 2021,” NCUA said.
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(Aug. 20, 2021) Summaries of three recent issuances from NCUA – on capitalizing loans, the rollout of the new examination tool, and on mortgage servicing rules – were published by NASCUS this week.
All three are available to members only. The summaries cover issuances – two letters to credit unions and one regulatory alert – issued by the agency over the last three weeks or so.
Early this month, the agency issued letter to credit unions (LTCU) 21-CU-07, which outlined limits on capitalization of loans to members. In particular, the letter pointed out, the financing of fees and commissions continue to be prohibited for federally insured credit unions, despite adoption of the new rule earlier this year allowing capitalization of loan interest. In the letter, the agency said that maintaining the prohibition on capitalization of fees “is an important consumer protection feature of the rule for member borrowers.”
In June, the agency’s board voted unanimously to lift the prohibition of capitalization of interest in connection with loan workouts and modifications; the rule took effect July 30. The change was made, NCUA said, to give borrowers additional access to loan workouts, perhaps caused by the economic disruption caused by the coronavirus crisis.
The second letter (LTCU 21-CU-08) summarized listed the new applications (and their implementation) the agency is employing for assisting in exams and communicating to credit unions. The letter, issued just last week, noted that the agency would begin transitioning to its new Modern Examination and Risk Identification Tool (MERIT) exam tool and other applications meant to modernize and streamline the agency’s operations. The other tools include the Data Exchange Application (DEXA), the Administrative Portal, and the Consumer Access Process and Reporting Information System (CAPRIS) for federal credit unions.
The letter also offers insights about who at credit unions can use the new tools, and how the tools integrate with state supervisory authority (SSA) examination and supervision programs.
The third item summarized by NASCUS and published this week is of a regulatory alert (21-RA-08), which urges review of CFPB mortgage servicing rules. According to the alert, credit unions are urged to review the June 30 rule temporarily amending certain mortgage servicing requirements under the bureau’s Regulation X to assist borrowers affected by the COVID-19 emergency. The alert noted that the CFPB rule — which takes effect Aug. 31 — only applies to servicers that service mortgages secured by a borrower’s principal residence and does not apply to small servicers.
LINKS:
NASCUS summary: LTCU 21-CU-07, Capitalization of Unpaid Interest (members only)
NASCUS summary: LTCU 21-CU-08, Implementation of Modernized Systems (members only)
NASCUS summary: 21-RA-07 Equal Credit Opportunity Act (Regulation B) (members only)
(July 30, 2021) Credit unions should review a June 30 rule temporarily amending certain mortgage servicing requirements under the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) Regulation X to assist borrowers affected by the COVID-19 emergency, NCUA said this week in a “regulatory alert.”
The agency’s alert noted that the CFPB rule only applies to servicers that service mortgages secured by a borrower’s principal residence. The rule – which takes effect Aug. 31 — does not apply to small servicers, the agency said.
Key provisions of the rule, NCUA said, are that it:
- Defines a COVID-19 related hardship as “a financial hardship due, directly or indirectly, to the national emergency for the COVID-19 pandemic” declared March 13, 2020 (beginning on March 1, 2020) and continued Feb 24 of this year.
- Modifies early intervention requirements of live-contact messages and reasonable diligence obligations to “help ensure that borrowers experiencing a COVID-19 related hardship have timely and accurate information about their loss mitigation options.” That includes that servicers must take additional actions, until Oct. 1, 2022, during live contacts related to a COVID hardship.
- Permits servicers to offer loan modifications to borrowers facing a COVID-19 related hardship based on an evaluation of an incomplete application if specified criteria are met.
- Sets up temporary COVID loss mitigation procedural safeguards to ensure a borrower has a “meaningful opportunity to pursue loss mitigation options.” NCUA said that, from Aug. 31 through Dec. 31 – unless an exception applies – a servicer must meet at least one of the specified safeguards before initiating any judicial or non-judicial foreclosure process where a borrower became more than 120 days delinquent on or after March 1, 2020, and the applicable state statute of limitations regarding foreclosures expires on or after Jan. 1, 2022.
NASCUS will prepare and post a summary of the alert (available to members only).
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(June 4, 2021) Credit unions should ensure their policies, procedures, and training materials promote compliance with federal equal credit opportunity laws, and Regulation B administered by the CFPB, in line with a 2020 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, NCUA said this week.
In a Regulatory Alert (21-RA-07), NCUA noted that the March 16, 2021 interpretive ruling published by CFPB clarified the prohibition against sex discrimination in the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA). The alert stated that the act and the rule encompass discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination. “The interpretive rule also covers discrimination based on actual or perceived nonconformity with sex- or gender-based stereotypes, and discrimination based on an applicant’s associations,” the alert states.
It notes that the law and rule cover discrimination against individuals, not merely groups. The alert also states that sex discrimination “includes discrimination motivated by actual or perceived nonconformity with sex- or gender-based stereotypes, such as discrimination based on a lender’s perception that a customer’s attire does not accord with the customer’s perceived gender.”
The rule is consistent, the agency said, with the 2020 high court ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County, Ga. That ruling held that the prohibition against sex discrimination in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 encompasses sexual orientation discrimination and gender identity discrimination.
“Some state laws already prohibit discrimination in credit transactions based on sexual orientation or gender identity,” the alert notes. “Credit unions should ensure their policies, procedures, and training materials promote compliance with ECOA and Regulation B consistent with the interpretive rule. Credit unions should also review automated scoring, decisioning, and pricing models for variables that could be proxies for these prohibited bases.”
NASCUS will develop a (members only) summary of the alert.
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NCUA Reg Alert: Equal Credit Opportunity Act (Regulation B)
(March 12, 2021) Requirements for exemptions for some credit unions from establishing escrow accounts for certain high-priced mortgage loans (HPMLs) are outlined in a “regulatory alert” sent Wednesday from NCUA.
The message from the agency noted that in February the CFPB published its final rule that provides the exemption for smaller banks and credit unions. The rule exempts from the HPML escrow requirement any loan made by a bank or credit union and secured by a first lien on the principal dwelling of a consumer if:
- the institution has assets of $10 billion or less (as of Dec. 31 in the preceding year);
- the institution and its affiliates originated 1,000 or fewer loans secured by a first lien on a principal dwelling during the preceding calendar year; and
- certain of the existing HPML escrow exemption criteria are met.
The rule was proposed in July. At that time, the CFPB said it represents the last mandatory rulemaking to implement the 2018 Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act (EGRRCPA, S.2155).
Wednesday’s “alert” notes that qualifying institutions that have established HPML escrow accounts on or after April 1, 2010, will have 120 days after the Feb. 17 effective date of the final rule to cease providing escrows for HPMLs to take advantage of the new exemption.
“The HPML provisions of Regulation Z require that a creditor establish an escrow account for certain first-lien HPMLs,” the alert states. “While the HPML provisions include an exemption for small creditors operating in rural or underserved areas that meet certain requirements, the exemption under the EGRRCPA is an additional exemption for qualifying insured credit unions.”
However, the alert also notes some caveats. It states that even if an insured credit union qualifies for the exemption from the escrow account requirement, “if, at consummation, the transaction is subject to a forward commitment for sale to a purchaser that does not qualify for an exemption from the escrow account requirement, an escrow account is required under the HPML provisions, unless the transaction is otherwise exempt from the requirement.”
(March 5, 2021) A “regulatory alert” outlining Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data collection is outlined by NASCUS in one of the latest summaries to be posted by the association.
The summary is available to members only.
Last month, the agency issued its Regulatory Alert 21-RA-04, which lists the requirements for collecting HMDA data associated with mortgage loan applications processed during 2021. The alert also lists (as further noted in the summary) the HMDA data partial exemptions for certain transactions.
(Feb. 12, 2021) Credit unions required to file reports on home mortgage loan applications made last year have until March 1 to do so, NCUA reminded this week in a Regulatory Alert.
In the alert (21-RA-03), the agency said all federally insured credit unions with assets of more than $47 million in assets as of Dec. 31, 2019, must file the application reports as required under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA), and implemented by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB’s) Regulation C.
There are some limiting provisions for reporting under the rule, the agency pointed out. For example, the closed-end mortgage loan threshold increased from 25 to 100 effective July 1, 2020. “Credit unions that originated fewer than 100 covered closed-end mortgage loans in 2018 or 2019 are not required to report any closed-end mortgage loan information for 2020,” the agency wrote, noting that Section 1003.3(c) of Regulation C lists excluded (not covered) transactions.
All data submitted, the agency said, must be done through the Federal Financial Institution Examination Council’s (FFIEC) HMDA Platform and that no other submission methods are permitted. An authorized representative of the credit union with knowledge of the data submitted must certify to the accuracy and completeness of the data submitted, the agency noted.
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Submission of 2020 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act Data (NCUA Regulatory Alert, 21-RA-03)
(Feb. 5, 2021) A regulatory alert focusing on 2021 threshold adjustments published by CFPB for Regulations C, Z and V was issued this week by NCUA, noting that all three were effective Jan. 1.
The alert notes that, in January, the bureau published annual adjustments for exemption thresholds under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (Regulation C) and the Truth in Lending Act (Regulation Z). The asset-size thresholds, the alert points out, exempt some credit unions from data collection under Regulation C and from escrow account requirements for higher-priced mortgage loans and specific qualified mortgages under Regulation Z.
The CFPB published an annual adjustment to the maximum amount consumer reporting agencies may charge consumers for making a file disclosure to a consumer under Regulation V, the alert also notes
More specifically the alert states:
- The Reg C exemption threshold increased to $48 million (meaning credit unions with $48 million or less in assets as of Dec. 31, 2020, are exempt from collecting HMDA data this year);
- The Reg Z escrow and small creditor qualified mortgages (QMs) asset-size exemption threshold increased to $2.23 billion (meaning lenders with assets of less than $2.23 billion at the end of last year are expect if other provisions of Reg Z are also met). The limit also applies during a grace period, in certain circumstances, with respect to transactions with applications received before April 1, 2022.
- The ceiling on the allowable amount a consumer reporting agency may charge for a consumer report in 2021 increased to $13. “The ceiling does not affect the amount a credit union may charge its members or potential members, directly or indirectly, for obtaining a credit report in the normal course of business,” NCUA noted.
(Jan. 29, 2021) NASCUS summaries of recent NCUA letters to credit unions – and a summary of a regulatory alert issued by the agency – are among the latest to be published by NASCUS. All three are available to members only.
The two letters summarized are on the agency’s outline of the issues affecting credit unions contained in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 adopted by Congress Dec. 27 (letter 21-CU-01, issued by the agency the week of Jan. 4), and about NCUA’s Supervisory priorities for 2021 (letter 21-CU-02, issued by the agency last week).
The first letter notes that that most of the provisions of the consolidated appropriations bill extend portions of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, signed into law last March as the impact of the coronavirus crisis became apparent. Those provisions are extended to Dec. 31, 2021, the letter notes. It also touches on provisions affecting the agency’s Central Liquidity Facility (CLF), troubled debt restructurings (TDRs), compliance with the Current Expected Credit Loss (CECL) accounting standard and more.
The second letter outlines the broad scope of the agency’s regulatory priorities for 2021, primarily focusing on challenges to credit unions posed by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and steps to enhance the agency’s offsite monitoring of credit unions’ conditions. Additionally, the letter states that examiners will not be assessing credit unions’ efforts to transition to the CECL standard “until further notice.”
The summary of the regulatory alert (21-RA-01), released by NCUA earlier this month, outlines the agency’s view of CFPB’s action late last year to issue two final rules amending the Ability-to-Repay/Qualified Mortgage Rule (ATR/QM Rule) in Regulation Z. The final rules would replace the 43% debt-to-income (DTI) ratio limit with price-based thresholds (under the bureau’s general QM final rule), and create a new category of qualified mortgage (known as the seasoned QM final rule).
LINKS:
NASCUS Summary: LTCU 21-CU-01, Summary of the Consolidated Appropriations Act 2021 (members only)
NASCUS Summary: LTCU 21-CU-02, NCUA’s Supervisory Priorities (members only)
NASCUS Summary: Regulatory Alert 21-RA-01: CFPB Amends Ability-to-Repay/QM Rule under TILA (members only)