Reverse Mortgage Broker Commission
Second Mortgage Broker CommissionHowever, on 31 March 2011, the Court of Appeal granted an administrative respite to examine the substance of two applications submitted by the National Association of Mortgage Brokers (the "NAMB") and the National Association of Independent Housing Professionals Licensed to issue the final provision or part thereof.
It is not clear at this stage what further legislative actions NAMB or NAPH may take in relation to the final rules. Following the appeal by the Court of Appeal, the final rules are currently in force. Final rules shall be applied to all concluded credit to consumers backed by a home or immovable asset that contains a home (regardless of whether it is a home purchase or a pledge ), inclusive of concluded reverse mortgage.
Final provisions do not cover home line credits or credits guaranteed by a consumer's interest in a periodical. In addition, the final provisions shall not be applicable to mortgages collateralised by immovable assets if they do not contain a home. Final provisions are applicable to all those who fall under the scope of the term "creditor", i.e. any "person who agrees, negotiations or otherwise receives an extension for another party of what is a term of the consumer' right to obtain indemnity or other financial benefit or in anticipation of indemnity or other financial benefit".
" In the adopted version, the field of application of the lender is wide, so that the final rules are generally applicable: i) Mortgage agents and staff of a mortgage agent or lender who are indemnified for brokering, negotiation or otherwise securing another person's credit; and ii) Mortgage agents and lenders who enter into a credit in their name but use spreadsheet financing from a third to finance the same.
In the final rules it is made clear that they do not apply: If the Service Provider changes an outstanding credit in the name of the present holder, as long as the change does not reach the refinancing rate as defined in Regulation Z; or (iii) Manager, administration personnel and other members of personnel of a lender or a creditor who does not grant credit and whose remuneration is not contingent upon the granting of credit.
Adopted, the final version of the regulations contains strict bans and regulations for compensatory payment to creditors, prohibiting creditors from obtaining remuneration directly or indirectly linked to credit conditions. With the adoption of the final regulations, the Federal Reserve has attempted to dispel misgivings about improper mortgage lending policies and the conflicts of interest that many lenders face when their own compensatory arrangements encourage them to lend at higher interest or less lucrative credit than those to which a user applies.
According to the final rules of procedure, the "remuneration" is broad and may comprise both the basic wage and the commission. To clarify the definition of the term of a credit, the final provisions prohibit indemnification to a lender for a direct or indirect interest bearing business, interest bearing business, APR, loan-to-value or early repayment.
Moreover, the final provision prohibits the indemnification of a creditor which is directly or indirectly related to a variable which is a representative of the commercial nature of a transactions, such as the value of a consumer's credits or the relationship between debts and incomes. Definitive rules of procedure also include guidelines on the lender's remuneration pattern on the basis of allowable remuneration coefficients.
Final provisions also forbid that lenders in a lending operation receive indemnification from more than one source. In particular, in the case of payment operations by way of payment to customers where the customer is paying the creditor, that creditor may not be remunerated by any other natural or legal persons in relation to the operation. The ban was imposed by the Federal Reserve to mitigate the lenders' concern about disclosure, which is being compensated by both customers and lenders.
Under the Final Scheme, lenders are prohibited from "leading" a customer to a trade because the trade increases the lender's remuneration in comparison with other trade which the lender has or could have proposed, unless the trade is in the consumer's best interest. Under the final rules, lenders may protect themselves by complying with a secure harbour rule by granting potential lenders at least three mortgages from a significant number of lenders with whom the lender conducts regular deals for each category of operation in which they are interested (e.g. fixed-rate, variable-rate or reverse mortgage).
Opportunities offered to would-be creditors must contain certain eligibility requirements for port security and the lender must have a good conscience as to whether the would-be credit option is likely to be offered to the would-be creditor. Furthermore, for each kind of operation where a lender offers more than three credit lines, the lender must emphasise to the would-be buyer the mortgages that comply with the SPAs.
Lastly, the lender may submit fewer than three mortgages and still be eligible for safety harbour status if the mortgages submitted meet all the safety harbour requirements. Under the final statutes, bondholders are required to keep a record of the remuneration paid to the lender and of the remuneration agreements or arrangements in force at the time when the interest rates for the lending operation are fixed.