InfoBytes Blog
Illinois Amends Its Mortgage Licensing Act
On August 3, Illinois enacted numerous changes to its Residential Mortgage Licensing Act. Effective immediately, House Bill 4521 (i) increases annual licensing fees, (ii) substantially raises the cap on fines for fraudulent and deceptive acts, (iii) authorizes the state regulator to contract with the NMLS to collect and maintain records and process fees, (iv) prohibits advance fees for loan modifications, and (v) restricts short sale facilitation services to those originators who also hold a license under Illinois' Real Estate License Act. The bill amends and adds several definitions to facilitate the substantive changes above, such as its revision of the definition of “mortgage loan originator” to incorporate individuals engaged in loan modification activities. The bill also amends the state Residential Real Property Disclosure Act to require that monthly consumer debt be included in reports prepared by originators for the state predatory lending database. This change takes effect January 1, 2013.