The U.S. Supreme Court today hears arguments in a major consumer case that traces its origins to a lawsuit a Cleveland home buyer filed against her title insurance company.
Reuters says the dispute, which pits big business against consumer groups, gets at a fundamental question: whether a person has to suffer legal harm to sue a company over an alleged kickback it got.
The Cleveland home buyer, Denise Edwards, “sued her title insurance company under a 1974 federal real estate settlement law that bars kickbacks and certain referral fee arrangements,” Reuters reports. The news service says Ms. Edwards paid First American Financial Corp $455 for title insurance as part of a home purchase in 2006 while the seller paid an additional $273. She alleges that First American “had an arrangement with her Ohio settlement agency to refer title insurance business exclusively to First American — the alleged kickback.”
Reuters notes that her attorneys argued that Congress, in adopting the 1974 law, “created a sufficient basis for her to sue and that courts have long recognized an individual’s interest to receive services free of kickbacks or other conflicts of interest.”
Backing the title company are organizations representing home builders, title insurance companies and mortgage bankers, as well as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
The story, unfortunately, doesn’t do a good job explaining their view of the case. But Kevin Walsh, a University of Richmond assistant law professor, tells Reuters that oral arguments before the court could provide clues on whether the justices are likely to rule broadly or narrowly.
“A broad ruling could either vindicate or constrict statutory damages provisions in laws designed to protect information privacy, to regulate debt collection and to set standards for credit reporting,” he says, citing other laws that could be affected.
Posted via email from Title Insurance Federal regulators are asking for industry input on prototypes for a new, unified settlement disclosure form that will replace the separate HUD-1 Settlement Statement and Truth in Lending disclosure form currently in use. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — which has also been asking for feedback this year on a unified loan disclosure form that consumers will receive when they apply for a mortgage — says it plans to test a number of different designs for a new settlement disclosure form over the next few months. The bureau will accept industry and consumer feedback until Nov. 16 on its initial prototypes for a redesigned settlement disclosure form. Based on that feedback, the bureau will fine-tune the prototypes and seek additional comments. Consumers currently get two disclosure forms whenever they apply for a mortgage, and two more at the closing table. Posted via email from Title Insurance This first edition of the CFPB Supervision and Examination Manual is a guide to how the CFPB will supervise and examine consumer financial service providers under its jurisdiction for compliance with Federal consumer financial law. The Manual is divided into three parts. The first part describes the supervision and examination process. The second part contains examination procedures, including both general instructions and procedures for determining compliance with specific regulations. The third part presents templates for documenting information about supervised entities and the examination process, including examination reports. To fulfill its statutory mandate to consistently enforce Federal consumer financial law, the procedures in this manual are designed to be used by examiners to examine supervised entities that offer similar types of consumer financial products or services, or conduct similar activities. While all supervised entities must operate in compliance with applicable laws, the CFPB will tailor its expectations of how that is accomplished to fit particular entity profiles. In this first edition, we have incorporated examination procedures developed under the auspices of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) for many of the laws now generally enforced by the CFPB, including the Truth in Lending Act, Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, and the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The CFPB will also use the Uniform Consumer Compliance Rating System established by the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council. Our Manual will also include examination procedures organized by product and line of business, beginning with procedures for reviewing mortgage servicing. We expect to continually update the Manual as compliance requirements evolve. A dynamic supervision program depends on continual enhancement. Contributions from all stakeholders are critical in the accomplishment of this goal. The CFPB welcomes feedback and suggestions for improvements from examiners, the banking industry, nonbank financial services companies, federal and state agencies, consumer and community groups, and the general public. Posted via email from Title Insurance
Continuing Ed for Title Agents
New settlement disclosure form to replace HUD-1 | Inman News
Continuing Ed for Title Agents
Supervision and Examination Manual – Version 1.0 > Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Continuing Ed for Title Agents
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