Bills, Bills, Bills
There are several definitions of the word BILL:
- an itemized statement of money owed for goods shipped or services rendered; as in “pay your bill“
- a piece of paper money; as in “dollar bill“
- the entertainment offered at a public presentation; as in “what’s on the bill“
- player for the National Football League team based in Buffalo, NY; as in “Jim Kelly will always be a Buffalo Bill“
- Nickname for William; as in “Bill Clinton“
- a brim that projects to the front to shade the eyes; as in “bill of a baseball cap“
- beak: horny projecting mouth of a bird; as in “pelicans have big bills“
- a statute in draft before it becomes law; as in “I‘m just a bill. Yes, I’m only a bill. And I’m sitting here on Capitol Hill.”
Bill Ritter recently signed five mortgage and foreclosure bills into law. Here’s a rundown of these BILLS from the Rocky Mountain News:
- HB 1322, MEASURE TO PREVENT MORTGAGE FRAUD
- SB 85, PROTECTS CONSUMER REAL ESTATE TRANSACTIONS
- SB 203, MORTGAGE BROKER LICENSING
- SB 216, MORTGAGE LOAN ACTS PRACTICES
- SB 249, REAL ESTATE TITLE ESCROW SETTLEMENT
Summary: Mortgage brokers and others involved in real estate transactions must act for the benefit of the borrower, including making reasonable inquiries into the borrower’s financial situation and using best efforts to obtain a loan that takes into consideration the borrower’s situation.
Summary: Prohibits brokers from trying to influence the judgment of a real estate appraiser through coercion, intimidation or compensation.
Summary: Brokers must be licensed by the Division of Real Estate and must get adequate training, testing and continuing education and are prohibited from engaging in 24 specific activities, including fraud and conflicts of interest. A broker who has a license revoked for violating this legislation would not be eligible to be reinstated unless he or she provides full restitution to individuals he or she has harmed.
Summary: Requires brokers to act in good faith and deal fairly, including: not to recommend the borrower enter into a transaction that “does not have a reasonable tangible net benefit to the borrower, considering his circumstances; to make reasonable inquiry into the borrower’s financial circumstances; not to make loans where there is no reasonable probability of repayment.”
Summary: The Division of Insurance is required to provide annual reports on the number of enforcement actions taken, the market trends with title insurance and real estate transactions, and consumer complaints generated by market analysis, investigation and enforcement efforts regarding title insurance.
While this is a start but there are several areas that still need to be addressed:
What about the borrowers? Aren’t they culpable? If Joe and Jane Borrower buy a house and refuse to pay their mortgage simply because they racked up a lot of debt what’s their penalty?
What about banks? In Colorado, state and nationally chartered banks are exempt from registration: bank, saving bank, savings and loan association, industrial bank, industrial loan company, credit union, or bank or savings association holding company organized under federal law, and subsidiary or employee of the above. This is a large population of the mortgage community.
What about the Account Reps? They represent the mortgage lenders who end up buying your loan. Some will say just about anything to get mortgage brokers to send them business. In other words they’re part of the problem. Somehow there’s no law where mortgage lenders have to police their own employees.
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Tagged with: colorado • debt • denver • foreclosure • mortgage • rate • real estate
Filed under: colorado • mortgage
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Hi Phil,
The one thing missing here is your clear opinion. I could almost infer from your definitions and from your “what about…” conclusions that you aren’t in favor of the upcoming bills. It seems to me that these bills will bring much needed regulation to an area of the business that has long needed it. Simply stated, the bills will require licensing, that brokers act in the best interest of the borrower, not payoff appraisers, and overall act in good faith.
So, what’s the problem?