Consumer Finance Monitor Podcast Episode: CFPB’s Proposed Mortgage Servicing Rule Amendments: Understanding the Impact on Loss Mitigation, Foreclosure, and Language Access
Redlining Isn’t What it Used To Be
Discrimination and Bias in Residential Lending
Consumer Finance Monitor Podcast Episode: Foreclosing on “Zombie” Mortgages: What Lenders and Servicers Should Know
Life After Love Gone Wrong Podcast: Season 3, Episode 2 - Mortgage Mastery: Charting a Financial Course Post-Divorce
Law Brief®: Robert Wolf, Alexander Tiktin and Richard Schoenstein Discuss the Continuing Foreclosure/Eviction Moratorium
Bar Exam Toolbox Podcast Episode 146: Listen and Learn -- Mortgages and Priority
Credit Eco to Go Podcast - Not a Normal Mortgage Crisis: How the Mortgage Industry Weathered the Pandemic
Not a Normal Mortgage Crisis: How the Mortgage Industry Weathered the Pandemic
In The Cross-Hairs? Protecting Your Company Against Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Investigations and Investors' Mortgage Buyback Claims
Condo Adviser: What is 'FHA approved,' exactly?
Bill on Bankruptcy: Trustees Sleep Easy after High Court Ruling
Bill on Bankruptcy: Sigmund Freud, Marx Brothers, Bernie Madoff
Critical Mortgage Regulatory Updates by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for 2013 and 2014
Bill on Bankruptcy: Delaware to Continue Dominating Bankruptcy
What’s Next from the CFPB
Former Congressman Steve Bartlett Joins the LEVICK Team
Recent news stories explain the criticism of Senator Warren and Congresswoman Waters directed at banks that are litigating the 2023 CRA rule. But perhaps their frustration should be focused on the regulators who have...more
As any bank professional regulatory compliance professional knows redlining is the hottest issue today and has been since Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the “Combatting Redlining Initiative” in October 2021. Since...more
In emails in recent months we've warned bankers about the extremely aggressive enforcement of anti-redlining policies. This is becoming more and more obvious every day as more banks get threatened with referral to the DOJ....more
Headlines 1. Supreme Court Upholds the Constitutionality of the CFPB’s Funding Structure The Supreme Court has ruled that the statutory authorization that allows the CFPB to draw funds from the earnings of the Federal Reserve...more
With April 1, 2024, the effective date for the new CRA rule fast approaching, every bank is asking what must we do on April 1? Here are the answers....more
The Retail Lending Test in the new CRA will measure bank performance against “market” benchmarks (lending activity reported by other lenders) and “community” benchmarks” (community demographics). Many bankers, although not...more
There has been much understandable handwringing about the new CRA and its complexity as well as the high CRA exam failure rate predicted by regulators based on the new assessment areas and the higher performance standards...more
I’ve written at least a dozen articles about the dramatic impact the new CRA is going to have on banks. Until now, only about 1.2% of bank CRA examinations end with a failing grade. But, by the estimates of the regulators, if...more
I have written a number of articles about the new CRA and the problems its requirements will impose on banks. But there are also problems posed by what the new Rule omits....more
Recently, my son took an online college course about social justice in the as-built environment. One topic in the class was redlining – a practice that limited the availability of affordable home loans for minorities. ...more
As I write this article the Department of Justice is pursuing a record-breaking number of “redlining” cases against banks and mortgage lenders. The “Anti-redlining Initiative” was announced October 22, 2021, by Attorney...more
A&B ABstract: When Congress passed the federal Community Reinvestment Act (“CRA”) in 1977 to address redlining, it imposed affirmative requirements on insured depository institutions to serve the credit needs of the...more
At the beginning of his term, President Biden declared that his administration would make it a policy to eliminate “racial bias and other forms of discrimination in all states of home-buying and renting.”...more
Federal Reserve Revises Framework for Determining Control of a Banking Organization The Federal Reserve has adopted a final rule to simplify and clarify its regulations for determining control of a banking organization for...more
The OCC and FDIC have issued a joint proposal to revise their regulations implementing the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). Although the Federal Reserve, OCC and FDIC, are the primary CRA regulators, the Fed did not join...more
On Thursday, December 12, 2019, the OCC and the FDIC issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPR) in an effort to modernize the regulatory framework behind the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). Last autumn, renewed...more
PRACTITIONER NOTES – Frankenstein’s Monster? Rosemary’s Baby? The Twins from the Shining? How Lenders are thinking about the Delaware Division Statute and Division LLCs - Recent amendments to the Delaware LLC Act (the...more
Last week, the Connecticut Fair Housing Center, Inc. filed a complaint against Liberty Bank in Connecticut federal district court alleging that the Bank engaged in discriminatory mortgage lending in violation of the federal...more
In November 2016, with the election results confirmed, the banking industry was awash in hopes for a more lenient regulatory posture. To date, the industry has seen no reform. However, on March 14, 2018, the Senate passed and...more
Consistent with recent indications from CFPB and Department of Justice officials that more redlining cases would soon be coming, the CFPB and DOJ have announced a proposed consent order with Hudson City Savings Bank to settle...more
Many big cities in the United States responded to the fallout from the 2008 financial crisis by passing local laws which pressure banks to invest more in low-income neighborhoods. Between 2010 and 2013, cities such as New...more
On September 24, 2015, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a joint action against Hudson City Savings Bank, F.S.B. (Hudson). The complaint alleges that Hudson...more