State & Federal Compliance
We provide legal counsel on all aspects of federal and state law affecting mortgage bankers and mortgage brokers. One of the things that most distinguishes LotsteinLegal is our set of on-line Compliance Manuals, which we keep up to date on an ongoing basis. They contain state and federal compliance information for all 50 states and the District of Columbia. This is not only of value, and available for sale, to clients (for more information click on the iComply page), but we also use them frequently as a resource. For instance, if we perform a multi-state survey, we do not have to re-invent the wheel in terms of time and effort spent researching relevant state requirements because we already have much of the information at our fingertips. This translates into savings for the client in hourly billings on many of our projects.
Another distinguishing feature of our firm is the relationships we have with the regulators at the state and federal level. When we research regulatory issues for clients, we often obtain informal and formal interpretations from state and federal regulators to confirm the nuances of statutory and regulatory interpretation.
We advise clients and offer services on the following topics, among other issues:
- Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA)
- Origination and settlement disclosures (brokers/lenders)
- Anti-kickback provisions: Affiliated Business Arrangement analysis, Broker compensation, etc.
- Servicing transfers
- Escrow administration
- Truth in Lending Act (TILA)
- Required disclosures
- Right of rescission
- Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act (HOEPA, or "Section 32")
- Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA)
- Disclosures
- Reporting rules
- Scope of applicability
- Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)
- Adverse action notices
- Affiliate information sharing
- Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA)
- Required notifications
- Appraisal report rules
- Fair Lending
- Fair Housing Act
- ECOA (anti-discrimination)
- State Law Compliance
- Anti-Predatory Lending Laws
- Permissible Fee Restrictions
- Required Disclosures
- Licensing, Corporate Qualification, and Trade Name Registration
- Usury and Other Substantive Restrictions
- Customized surveys of multi-state and federal requirements for clients’ current and planned business activities
- Formal legal opinions on compliance issues
- Review of business plans for compliance with state and federal laws
- Review/development of document packages for compliance with all applicable laws
- Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae program compliance
- Government Lending (FHA/VA/GNMA) compliance
- e-Commerce solutions to emerging internet lending trends
- Website audits
- Electronic signature requirements
- Electronic management of documents
