Orange County Home Owners Will Enjoy More Mortgage Protection In 2013

Recent remarks by Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Director, Richard Cordray, at the recent Mortgage Servicing Field Hearing, spoke about the mortgage industry’s need for new regulations and increased responsibility to be placed on the shoulders of mortgage servicers when it comes to things like collecting payments, managing loans that are performing well and providing a higher level of service on defaulted loans that are in collection and heading to foreclosure.

A Crisis That Didn’t Happen Overnight

Mr. Cordray echoed the feelings of many Orange County mortgage brokers when he recalled his first encounter with a foreclosure crisis, back in early 2004 when he was working in a treasurer position for an Ohio County.

At the onset of that foreclosure crisis, Cordray and several other elected officials started a campaign called “Save Our Homes” which encouraged local residents to call their lenders and learn more about the details of their mortgages.

This campaign also led to an ongoing investigation which helped Cordray to see that the “foreclosure crisis” his Ohio County was experiencing, wasn’t something that happened overnight, it had been building as far back as 1996, and the spate of foreclosures his county was seeing, was the result for predatory lending, something that Orange County homeowners are all too familiar with today. 

New Regulations Will Change The Mortgage Industry

Thanks to the new legislation like the recent Dodd-Frank Act the mortgage industry is going to get a “face lift” and new rules will be put into place that will protect borrowers including:

• Periodic Statements – A mortgage servicer has to offer what’s known as a periodic statement to their clients, this statement must include information like past payments, current payments, fees, recorded activity of transactions and more.
• Adjustable Rate Mortgage – If a client chooses an Adjustable Rate Mortgage (ARM), their mortgage servicer must notify them at least 240 days in advance, before their first payment at the new rate is due.
• Periodic Payments – All mortgage servicers must credit a borrowers periodic payment or a payment that includes escrow, principal and interest.

To learn more about the latest changes to the Orange County mortgage industry or to get an affordable mortgage loan, contact the experienced team of mortgage brokers at Sun Financial Group today by calling: (949) 699-1950.