NOV 20 2014

CFPB Proposes Expanded Foreclosure Protections

Proposal Would Provide Surviving Family Members and Other Homeowners with Same Protections as Original Borrower

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) proposed additional measures to ensure that homeowners and struggling borrowers are treated fairly by mortgage servicers. The proposal would require servicers to provide certain borrowers with foreclosure protections more than once over the life of the loan, to put in place additional servicing transfer protections, and to take steps to protect borrowers from a wrongful foreclosure sale. The proposal would also help ensure that surviving family members and others who inherit or receive property have the same protections under the CFPB’s mortgage servicing rules as the original borrower.

“The Consumer Bureau is committed to ensuring that homeowners and struggling borrowers are treated fairly by mortgage servicers and that no one is wrongly foreclosed upon,” said CFPB Director Richard Cordray. “Today’s proposal would give greater protections to mortgage borrowers.”

Mortgage servicers are responsible for collecting payments from the mortgage borrower and forwarding those payments to the owner of the loan. They typically handle customer service, collections, loan modifications, and foreclosures. To address shoddy mortgage servicing practices, the CFPB put in place common-sense rules designed to eliminate surprises and runarounds for homeowners. The rules, which went into effect on January 10, 2014, require servicers to maintain accurate records, give troubled borrowers direct and ongoing access to servicing personnel, promptly credit payments, and correct errors on request. The rules also include strong protections for struggling homeowners, including those facing foreclosure. 

Since the Bureau’s mortgage servicing rules took effect, the CFPB has continued to engage in outreach with consumer advocacy groups, industry representatives, and other stakeholders. This proposal reflects our ongoing effort to ensure the rules are working as intended and to smooth the path for companies to better protect consumers and comply with the CFPB’s rules. 

Among other things, today’s proposal would:

• Require servicers to provide certain borrowers with foreclosure protections more than once over the life of the loan: Currently, a mortgage servicer must give the borrower certain foreclosure protections, including the right to be evaluated under the CFPB’s requirements for options to avoid foreclosure, only once during the life of the loan. Under the proposed rule, servicers would have to give those protections again for borrowers who have brought their loans current at any time since the last loss mitigation application. This change would be particularly helpful for borrowers who obtain a permanent loan modification and later suffer an unrelated hardship – such as the loss of a job or the death of a family member – that could otherwise cause them to face foreclosure.

• Expand consumer protections to surviving family members and other homeowners: If a borrower dies, CFPB rules currently require that servicers promptly identify and communicate with family members, heirs, or other parties, known as “successors in interest,” who have a legal interest in the home. Today’s proposal would expand the circumstances in which consumers would be considered successors under the rules. The expanded circumstances include when a property is transferred after a divorce, legal separation, through a family trust, between spouses, from a parent to a child or when a borrower who is a joint tenant dies. The proposal also ensures that those confirmed as successors generally receive the same protections under the CFPB’s mortgage servicing rules as the original borrower. Such protections include the right to get information about the loan and right to the foreclosure protections.

• Require servicers to notify borrowers when loss mitigation applications are complete: When a borrower completes a loss mitigation application, key foreclosure protections take effect. If consumers do not know the status of their application, they cannot know the status of their foreclosure protections. The proposal would require servicers to notify borrowers promptly that the application is complete, so that borrowers know the status of the application and their protections.

• Protect struggling borrowers during servicing transfers: When mortgages are transferred from one servicer to another, borrowers who had applied to the prior servicer for loss mitigation may not know where they stand with the new servicer. The proposal clarifies that generally a transferee servicer must comply with the loss mitigation requirements within the same timeframes that applied to the transferor servicer. If the borrower’s application was complete prior to the transfer, the new servicer generally must evaluate it within 30 days of when the prior servicer received it. For involuntary transfers, the proposal would give the new servicer at least 15 days after the transfer date to evaluate a complete application. If the new servicer needs more information in order to evaluate the application, the borrower would retain some foreclosure protections in the meantime.

• Clarify servicers’ obligations to avoid dual-tracking and prevent wrongful foreclosures: The rules currently prohibit a servicer from proceeding to foreclosure once they receive a complete loss mitigation application from a borrower more than 37 days prior to a scheduled sale. However, in some cases, borrowers are not receiving this protection and servicers’ foreclosure counsel may not be taking adequate steps to delay foreclosure proceedings or sales. The Bureau is proposing to clarify what steps servicers and their foreclosure counsel must take to protect borrowers from a wrongful foreclosure sale. The Bureau is proposing that servicers who do not take reasonable steps to prevent the sale must dismiss a pending foreclosure action. The proposed clarifications would aid servicers in complying with, and assist courts in applying, the dual-tracking prohibitions in foreclosure proceedings to prevent wrongful foreclosures.

• Clarify when a borrower becomes delinquent: Several of the consumer protections under the Bureau’s rules depend upon how long a consumer has been delinquent on a mortgage. Today’s proposal would clarify that delinquency, for purposes of the servicing rules, begins on the day a borrower fails to make a periodic payment. Under the proposal, when a borrower misses a payment but later makes it up, if the servicer applies that payment to the oldest outstanding periodic payment, the date of delinquency advances. The proposal also would allow servicers the discretion, under certain circumstances, to consider a borrower as having made a timely payment even if the borrower’s payment falls short of a full payment by a small amount. The increased clarity will help ensure borrowers are treated uniformly and fairly.

• Provide more information to borrowers in bankruptcy: Currently, servicers do not have to provide periodic statements or loss mitigation information to borrowers in bankruptcy. The proposal would generally require servicers to provide periodic statements to those borrowers, with specific information tailored for bankruptcy. Servicers also currently do not have to provide certain disclosures to borrowers who have told the servicer to stop contacting them under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. The proposal would require servicers to provide written early intervention notices to let those borrowers know about loss mitigation options.

The proposal would make additional changes to the mortgage servicing rules. These changes include providing flexibility for servicers to comply with certain force-placed insurance and periodic statement disclosure requirements. The changes would clarify several early intervention, loss mitigation, information request, and prompt crediting of payments requirements, as well as the small servicer exemption. Further, the proposal would exempt servicers from providing periodic statements under certain circumstances when the servicer has charged off the mortgage.

Further details about today’s proposal can be found in the summary: http://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/201411_cfpb_summary_mortgage-servicing-proposed-rule.pdf

Today’s proposed rule and disclosures will be open for public comment for 90 days after their publication in the Federal Register.

A copy of the proposed rule, which includes information on how to submit comments, is available at: http://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/201411_cfpb_proposed-rule_mortgage-servicing.pdf

###

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is a 21st century agency that helps consumer finance markets work by making rules more effective, by consistently and fairly enforcing those rules, and by empowering consumers to take more control over their economic lives. For more information, visit ConsumerFinance.gov.

We are happy to answer your foreclosure and mortgage servicing questions!

Dana Leigh Shafman

Managing Member

END Consulting

Toll Free (888) 234-7006

Direct (602) 396-5822

Fax (888) 234-7096

Dana@ConsultingEND.com

www.ConsultingEND.com

www.TheDailyComplaint.com

CFPB Proposes Rules To Protect Consumers From Shoddy Foreclosure Practices

By Ashlee Kieler  November 21, 2014  Consumerist (Consumerist.com)

Since the recession began in the late 2000s, many homeowners have struggled to keep their homes, often fighting off aggressive and shady foreclosure attempts. Over the years, consumers groups have fought to extend protections for these consumers. On Thursday, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau took steps to ensure that homeowners and struggling borrowers are treated fairly by mortgage servicers. 

The Bureau’s proposed rules [PDF] cover a variety of issues from providing additional help to consumers who previously faced foreclosure to making sure that loan servicers who buy a borrower’s loan provide the consumer with the same protections and advanced notice as previously afforded to them. 

The rules focus on correcting the often shady tactics mortgage servicers – companies responsible for collecting payments from the borrower and forwarding the payment to the owner of the loan – employ when typically handling customer service, collections, loan modifications, and foreclosures. 

Officials with the CFPB say the proposed rules are part of the Bureau’s ongoing effort to protect struggling homeowners and to make the mortgage process easier to understand. 

Back in 2010, the CFPB put in place rules to eliminate surprises and runaround from consumers, the rules require servicers to maintain accurate records, give troubled borrowers direct and ong
oing access to servicing personnel, promptly credit payments and correct errors on request.

Since those rules went into effect the CFPB has continued to hear from consumer advocacy groups that more could be done to protect consumers.

Require Foreclosure Protections More Than Once
Under the newly proposed rules, servicers are required to provide certain borrowers with foreclosure protections more than once over the life of the loan. 

Currently, a mortgage servicer must give borrowers certain foreclosure protections, including the right to be evaluated under the CFPB’s requirements for options to avoid foreclosures, only once during the life of their loan. 

Expand Consumer Protections To Heirs, Successors
With the proposed rule, servicers would be required to once again extend these protections to borrowers who have brought their loans current at any time during the last loss mitigation application. 

According to the CFPB this rule change would be particularly helpful for borrowers who obtain a permanent loan modification and later suffer an unrelated hardships, such as job loss or death of a family member. 

Required Notification For Loss Mitigation Processes
The new rules also expand consumer protections to surviving family members and other homeowners. 

In the event that a borrower dies, the CFPB’s rules currently require that servicers promptly identify and communication with family members, heirs, and other parties, known as “successors in interest,” who have a legal interest in the home. 

The new rule expands the circumstances in which consumers would be considered successors. Meaning that if the property is passed to another family member through a divorce, legal separation, through a family trust, between spouses, from a parent to a child or when a borrower who is a joint tenant dies, that borrower would receive the same protections as the original homeowner.

Protection For Struggling Borrowers During Servicing Transfers
Often when mortgages are transferred from one servicer to another, the borrower who had applied to the prior serviver for loss mitigation may not be notified of where they stand with the new servicers. In that instance, the new CFPB rules clarify that generally a transferee servicer must comply with the loss mitigation requirements within the same timeframes that applied to the previous servicer. 

So if the borrower’s application was complete prior to the transfer, the new servicer generally must evaluate it within 30 days of when the prior servicer received i
t. For involuntary transfers, the proposal would give the new servicer at least 15 days after the transfer date to evaluate a complete application. If the new servicer needs more information in order to evaluate the application, the borrower would retain some foreclosure protections in the meantime.

Clarification To Prevent Servicers’ Dual-Tracking, Wrongful Foreclosures
Currently CFPB rules prohibit servicers from proceeding to foreclosure one they receive a complete loss mitigation application from a borrower more than 37 says prior to a scheduled sale. But in some cases, borrowers are not receiving this protection and servicers’ foreclosure counsel may not be taking adequate steps to delay foreclosure proceedings or sale. 

The Bureau’s proposal clarifies what steps servicers and their foreclosure counsel must take to protect borrowers from a wrongful foreclosure sale. 

Servicers who do not take reasonable steps to prevent the sale must dismiss a pending foreclosure action. 

The proposed clarifications would aid servicers in complying with, and assist courts in applying, the dual-tracking prohibitions in foreclosure proceedings to prevent wrongful foreclosures.

Clarification On Delinquency Timing
Several current protections under the Bureau’s rules are contingent on how long a consumer has been delinquent on a mortgage. The newly proposed rules aim to take the guess-work out of that issue, but clarifying that delinquency, for purposes of the servicing rules, begins on the day a borrower fails to make a periodic payment. 

Under the proposal, when a borrower misses a payment but later makes it up, if the servicer applies that payment to the oldest outstanding periodic payment, the date of delinquency advances. 

The proposal also would allow servicers the discretion, under certain circumstances, to consider a borrower as having made a timely payment even if the borrower’s payment falls short of a full payment by a small amount. 

Officials with the CFPB say the clarification will help ensure borrowers are treated uniformly and fairly by all servicers. 

Protecting Borrowers In Bankruptcy
Currently borrowers in bankruptcy receive little or no periodic statements or loss mitigation information from their servicers; the proposed rule would change this way of business. 

Consumer groups were quick to applaud the CFPB for their proposed foreclosure protections. 

The National Consumer Law Center says in a statement [PDF] that the new revisions are an important step toward improving protections for distressed borrowers. 

“The CFPB’s proposal addresses several top-line problems for homeowners seeking help from their mortgage companies,” Alys Cohen, staff attorney for the NCLC says in a statement. 

Still, the group believes that several important issues were not addressed in the proposed rules and urged the CFPB to look into the problems further. 

“Homeowners must have clear guidance on what they need to submit in order to have their request for assistance reviewed. Because key protections only apply once a complete application has been submitted, homeowners continue to face skyrocketing fees and piled-on interest from foreclosures while they try to complete their applications,” Cohen says. 

The proposed rules and disclosures will be open for public comment for 90 days after their publication in the Federal Register. 

CFPB Proposes Expanded Foreclosure Protections [CFPB]

ARTICLE LINK: http://consumerist.com/2014/11/21/cfpb-proposes-rules-to-protect-consumers-from-shoddy-foreclosure-practices/

Please let us know how we can help!

Dana Leigh Shafman

Managing Member

END Consulting

Toll Free (888) 234-7006

Direct (602) 396-5822

Fax (888) 234-7096

Dana@ConsultingEND.com

www.ConsultingEND.com

www.TheDailyComplaint.com

SELECT PORTFOLIO SERVICING (SPS)

SPS COMPLAINT:

Submitted:      November 2014

Reported By:   Silverstar165 in Spring City, TN

Report Link:   CLICK HERE

My son's father passed away last year.  My son became ex-acuter of the estate.  SPS has given him a list of late charges but can not explane what all the late charges are for.  They say that some are for unpaid taxes and insurance and some are late payment charges.  However, they can not tell us how much is for what, and when.  Also, several years before the estate owner passed so did the estate owner's wife.  Shortly after her death he filed for the government loan modification program to help get back on track and lower his mortgage payment so it would be managable with less income.  After many attempts and many faxed documents of the same things over and over and a change of "relationship managers" three times he was eventurally denied after 10 months.  I know this because I was the person doing all the financial work for him during that time and I am also the mother of his son.  I was his first wife.  Now my son gets calls from SPS on a daily basis about late charges that are not acuratly or clearly explaned and when my son questions them they become defensive stating they are recording the conversatons.  My son has replied that he also is recording the conversation but they hang up on him and call back on another day.  They harrass and will never give the same answer twice nor, does my son speak with the same person twice.  I know for a fact that all the taxes and insurances were paid while I was living here, and have documentation to prove this.  I have even sent them proof of this.  Nothing seems to work with these people.  They make up bogus charges and harress us for payment beleiving we fear all the forclosure notes they send will force us to pay faster.   We are sick of their bulling tactics.   We want to join a class action suit against them.  We beleive they have bogus charges that have been going on for the years they have owned the loan.

END CONSULTING ADVICE:

We routinely look for posts to answer in hopes that it will not only bring optimism to those homeowners and borrowers in distress but also some basic information to assist in fighting the banks that are "too big to fail" but yet don't appreciate the bailout that we provided in their time of need.  The debt collectors like SPS, SLS, Green Tree, Ocwen and Nationstar are simply just piranhas but they can be beat at their own game too just like the big banks can be defeated.  You CAN win this fight!!!

It pains me that you have fallen victim to the illegal, unfair, deceptive and abusive acts and practices of Select Portfolio Servicing (SPS) but I also commend you for seeking help; too often homeowners do not fight for their consumer and constitutional rights!

With that said, you have overlooked a key aspect to your fight, which is putting your objections in writing in the form of a proper QWR and attaching proof of your consumer and Constitutional rights; they have certainly been violated in this case.  All of the aforementioned mortgage lending and debt collection companies MUST answer your Qualified Written Requests (QWR) and if they refuse to then you take your fight to all the regulatory agencies outside of SPS that assist in fighting for your rights like the CFPB; it’s a shame that these more than profitable and previously bailed-out companies engage in this type of consumer abuse.

We would be more than happy to educate you as to how to fight for your rights.  My firm routinely seeks out complaints online so that we can educate as to how to fight back on our weekday show called "The Daily Complaint" where we review a complaint and how to tackle it successfully.

We reviewed your complaint on the show if you would like to listen, click here or visit The DailyComplaint.com

You can learn more by visiting the CFPB's website and becoming educating about the rights afforded you under the FDCPA, Dodd-Frank and RESPA via the CFPB – click here. Here’s also some additional information on “mortgage servicing” since it appears you have very valid complaints with regard to the servicing of the mortgage – click here

In the event you have further questions, you can contact END Consulting and me directly as I would be more than happy to contact SPS on your behalf to determine the status of your foreclosure situation!

I would be happy to elaborate for anyone reading this as we always offer free consultation until we can determine if we can assist you to include contacting the bank and/or servicer for you for free to uncover the options that exist for you in this situation. You can reach me via email or via the web. I have had the pleasure of educating thousands of consumers on their rights and how to assert them to get what they want...my firm is exceptional at what we do!

Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's END

Respectfully,

Dana Shafman

Managing Member

END Consulting

(888) 234-7006 Ext 101

Dana@ConsultingEND.com

www.TheDailyComplaint.com

CLICK HERE FOR RADIO SHOW

SELENE FINANCE (B OF A)

SELENE FINANCE COMPLAINT:

Submitted:      October 2014

Reported By:     Putt79 in Plantation, FL

Report Link:   CLICK HERE

BOA sold my mortgage to these idiots in July 2014. In August 2014 I received a monthly statement from Selene for my 08/01/13 payment of 935.85 that was due. Thinking it was a typo, I started calling them. The automated service tells me every time that the person handling my account is not available and to leave a message. I did that five times with no returned call. I finally get someone in Customer Service who tells me I owe them 11, 182.20 because BOA told them I had not paid my mortgage since July 2013. I explained to the CSR that their records were incorrect as I called BOA every month directly to have them process a ACH directly from my account. I also told them that my payment amount was not 983.85, but 741.85 due to an approved loan modification. He claimed that the paperwork provided from BOA shows it was never processed or approved, even though I have the agreement dated 11/01/2012. I called back several weeks later when I got another letter stating I needed to answer to the validity of my debt for the August 2013 payment not made. At first, she offered to put me in touch with an adviser that could tell me about their load forbearance program since I haven't paid in over a year. I explained to her again that I made my payments directly to BOA via a live person and she told me it was an error because BOA had not given them the whole file regarding my mortgage and to disregard the letter. I have yet to hear anything back from them and I have not received any statements from them either. I have just registered on their website to see that according to them, my payment due is for 08/01/2013 in the amount of 935.85. I WISH someone would call and try to harass me so that I could go off on them!!

END CONSULTING ADVICE:

While I am sorry for the abuse that you have suffered at the hands of Selene Finance after your mortgage was transferred from Bank of America, you might be surprised to learn just how easy it is to fix a problem of this nature.  In order to resolve your issues, you simply need to prepare a Qualified Written Request (QWR) and attach both the modification agreement along with proof of payment per the modified terms to Selene Finance as well as the CFPB.

You have overlooked a key aspect to your fight, which is putting your valid objections and servicing abuses in writing in the form of a proper QWR and attaching proof your consumer and Constitutional rights; they have certainly been violated in this case as I see it.  All of the mortgage lending and debt collection companies, including Selene Finance, MUST answer your Qualified Written Requests (QWR) and if they refuse to then you take your fight to all the regulatory agencies outside of Selene that assist in fighting for your rights like the CFPB; it’s a shame that these more than profitable and previously bailed-out companies engage in this type of consumer abuse.

I routinely look for posts to answer in hopes that it will not only bring optimism to those homeowners and borrowers in distress but also some basic information to assist in fighting the banks that are "too big to fail" but yet don't appreciate the bailout that we provided in their time of need.  The debt collectors like Selene, SPS, SLS, Green Tree, Ocwen and Nationstar are simply just piranhas but they can be beat at their own game too just like the big banks can be defeated.  You CAN win this fight!!!

We would be more than happy to educate you as to how to fight for your rights. My firm routinely seeks out complaints online so that we can educate as to how to fight back on our weekday show called "The Daily Complaint” where we review a complaint and how to tackle it successfully.

We reviewed your complaint on the show if you would like to listen, visit www.TheDailyComplaint.com

You can learn more by visiting the CFPB's website and becoming educating about the rights afforded you under the FDCPA, Dodd-Frank and RESPA via the CFPB.  Let me point out that Green Tree has violated your rights under the CFPB's new mortgage servicing rules as afforded you via the Dodd-Frank Act. Here is a link to the new rules: http://www.consumerfinance.gov/newsroom/consumer-financial-protection-bureau-rules-establish-strong-protections-for-homeowners-facing-foreclosure/

In the event you have further questions, you can contact me via email at Dana@ConsultingEND.com or via the website at www.ConsultingEND.com or via phone (my full contact information is below) as I would be more than happy to contact Selene on your behalf or with you to determine the status of your loan as well as what options exist for you as a borrower/homeowner!

Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's END

Respectfully,

Dana Shafman

Managing Member

END Consulting

(888) 234-7006 Ext 101

Dana@ConsultingEND.com

www.TheDailyComplaint.com