AccessMyLibrary provides FREE access to over 30 million articles from top publications available through your library.
Create a link to this page
Copy and paste this link tag into your Web page or blog:
New Legal Attacks Might Focus on Servicing Issues.
Although the mortgage business has won most of the courtroom battles to date, the plaintiffs' bar continues to fight the war, a litigation specialist said at a recent legal issue conference here.
"One of the consequences of kicking butt on yield-spread premium cases is that there's now a whole gang of plaintiffs' attorneys looking around for things to do," said Robert Pratte, a director in the Minneapolis law firm of Briggs and Morgan.
In his presentation at the Mortgage Bankers Associations' Legal Issues and Regulatory Compliance Conference,
Mr. Pratte outlined several normal, everyday activities, many of them related to loan servicing, that are coming under fire:
* Document Preparation Fees: This charge for a non-lawyer's completion of standardized mortgage papers "invites scrutiny" because it can be seen as the unauthorized practice of law, Mr. Pratte said.
"Any 14-year-old can fill out these documents. They're administrative at best," he told the conference. "The question is, do you need to be a lawyer?"
So far, the results on this question have been mixed, but litigation is ongoing in several states.
- Roundup: CMSA Goes to Court to Defend Prepayment Penalties.
- News wire article from: The America's Intelligence Wire January 29, 2007 700+ words
...the decision, if allowed to stand, "will undermine fundamental principles of contract law applicable to the individual loan documents that underlie securitized mortgage instruments." Moreover, "The decision will thus disturb not only the settled expectations...
- Prepayment penalties make a comeback at some large mortgage lenders. (includes...
- Magazine article from: ABA Banking Journal Cocheo, Steve April 1, 1996 700+ words
...their match in a new generation of prepayment penalties. How quickly--and if--the...rights asset. Bending over too far Prepayment penalties began to disappear in the 1970s...Home Loan Mortgage Corp. "decided prepayment penalties were anti-consumer," says Stuart...
- Compliance complications: prepayment penalties are useful options when...
- Magazine article from: Mortgage Banking Swafford, Ron May 1, 2006 700+ words
Prepayment penalties have long been a feature in...eventually disappears. [??] Prepayment penalties, by design, help protect mortgage...early refinancing. [??] Prepayment penalties serve an important function...
- New Research: Minority Borrowers in Subprime Market at Significantly Higher...
- Press release article from: PR Newswire January 13, 2005 700+ words
...greater odds of being saddled with prepayment penalties than borrowers living in predominantly...that borrowers burdened with prepayment penalties actually pay higher interest rates...The evidence is now clear. Prepayment penalties in subprime loans are locking African...
- Prepayment penalties surprise consumers, protect lenders.
- Newspaper article from: Daily Record (St. Louis, MO/St. Louis Countian) June 28, 2002 700+ words
...phased out practice of prepayment penalties has also made a return...of property contracts. Prepayment penalties are often misunderstood...original loan amount. "[Prepayment penalties] are not a good deal under...
- Rural Borrowers Fall Prey to Unscrupulous Lenders, New Research Finds;...
- Press release article from: PR Newswire September 8, 2004 700+ words
...mortgage debt prior to the due date. Prepayment penalties of five years or longer are of particular...the greatest harm on borrowers. Prepayment penalties in subprime loans create a financial...as "yield spread premiums"). Prepayment penalties are common in up to 80 percent of...
- Creditor is denied prepayment penalties on commercial loans.(UPS Capital...
- Newspaper article from: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Schaffer, Noah November 13, 2006 700+ words
...oversecured creditor could not collect prepayment penalties on two commercial loans where it...entitled to more than $200,000 in prepayment penalties on its loans. But Chief Judge Ernest...to be repaid over 30 years, with prepayment penalties triggered if a prepayment of more...
- Goodbye prepayment penalties. (Criimi Mae Inc. loan's no-lock prepayment...
- Magazine article from: CFO, The Magazine for Senior Financial Executives Van Voorhis, Scott October 1, 1997 700+ words
...comes due without triggering massive prepayment penalties. Conduit lenders, such as Criimi...loans, often charge substantial prepayment penalties to discourage borrowers from quickly...significantly discounted. In contrast with prepayment penalties of as much as 20 percent charged...
- Study: Predatory Loan Terms Increase Risk of Subprime Mortgage Foreclosure by...
- Press release article from: PR Newswire January 25, 2005 700+ words
...Predatory loan terms, namely prepayment penalties and balloon payments, increase...study demonstrates that subprime prepayment penalties and balloon payments place Americans...Capitalism study were as follows: * Prepayment penalties in subprime home loans increase...
- Mortgage Group Challenges State of Virginia on Loan-Prepayment Penalties.
- Newspaper article from: Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News Hazard, Carol August 11, 1999 700+ words
...issue of state control regarding prepayment penalties is being debated in New Jersey...charged more than state limits. Prepayment penalties vary by state, lender and loan...Veterans Administration prohibit prepayment penalties. Lenders say consumers are free...
Source: HighBeam Research, New Legal Attacks Might Focus on Servicing Issues.