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CFPB updates reverse mortgage servicing examination procedures
On June 1, the CFPB updated its reverse mortgage servicing examination procedures to incorporate current HUD regulations that provide the structure for Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) products. The updated procedures also add new exam questions to include issues raised in complaints submitted by older consumers. According to the Bureau’s summary, additions to the procedures include: (i) information regarding situations where a “servicer advances funds to pay for property taxes in any situation where the borrower was not behind on these payments”; (ii) guidance concerning a servicer’s timeliness in providing accurate payoff statements; (iii) new language under “Causes of Default” summarizing the circumstances under which an eligible non-borrowing spouse on an HECM loan may stay in the home after the borrower dies, for loans originated on or after August 4, 2014; and (iv) new language in the background section, which “incorporates HUD’s August 2017 regulatory changes that affected the ways in which lenders and servicers calculate the initial and annual mortgage insurance premiums,” as well as additional language “to provide a fuller description of reverse mortgages.”