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On Wednesday, October 7, 2015, the House voted 303 to 121 to approve HR 3192, the Homebuyers Assistance Act. Introduced by Representative Hill (R-AR) and Sherman (D-CA), the bill would provide a safe harbor for lenders who act in good faith to comply with the new “Know Before You Owe”/TRID mortgage disclosure requirements. The bill had previously passed the Financial Services Committee on a bipartisan vote of 45-13. The Senate has yet to take up the measure. The White House has indicted that the President will veto the measure should it come to his desk for signature.
The new disclosure rules replace the long-standing Good Faith Estimate (GFE) and HUD-1 mortgage forms and make other changes; it went into effect of October 3rd. While the bill would not delay the implementation of the new disclosure rules and the use of the new forms, the Act would shield lenders acting in good faith from regulatory enforcement actions and private litigation until February 1, 2016. The Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, on behalf of the six federal financial regulatory agencies, had stated in writing on October2, 2015 that the early enforcement of the new rules will take into account the good faith efforts of supervised entities. The letter is the result of NAR’s joining with numerous industry partners to request this written assurance so that lending institutions can proceed with closings under the new rule in a timely manner.
For further information and updates on the Know Before You Owe/TRID rules go to www.realtors.org/trid.