The Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act (HOEPA) is intended to protect consumers from unfair and abusive practices in mortgage lending. HOEPA was first enacted in 1994 as an amendment to the Truth in Lending Act (TILA) and offers additional protection for high rate mortgages. It outlines the conditions under which a mortgage is considered to have high fees and/or high rates of interest. HOEPA mortgages are also called Section 32 mortgages as the loan rules are included in Section 32 of Regulation Z, which implements the TILA. The act has undergone several amendments over the years.
The law covers a loan if it satisfies the following conditions -
Note - Premiums on credit insurance in case of credit transactions are also considered to be fees. The rules do not cover reverse mortgages or home equity lines of credit.
Loans meeting HOEPA's high-cost triggers have special disclosure requirements as well as restrictions on loan terms; borrowers have enhanced remedies for violations. HOEPA is now also expanded to apply more mortgage transactions, including home-equity lines of credit and purchase of money mortgage loans. Also included are prepayment penalty triggers and expanded protection for high-cost mortgages.
In addition to TILA disclosures, some of the disclosures required for being HOEPA compliant are -
These disclosures should be received no later than the loan closing date. In addition to this, there are a number of prohibited practices for HOEPA loans, such as balloon payments for loans less than five years, negative amortization, creditors issuing loans without verifying the borrower's ability to repay the loan, and a number of other such practices. Some of these have exceptions.
The consumer or borrower can sue the lender for violating HOEPA requirements. In a successful lawsuit the borrower can recover statutory and actual damages, attorney fees and court costs. Violation of high-fee or high-cost requirements of TILA can let the consumer either rescind or cancel the loan (up to three years).
Outsource2india specializes in banker compliance requirements and makes sure that the banker compliance requirements are satisfied. Contact O2I for outsourcing compliance and become HOEPA compliant for loan processing, compliance consulting, mortgage compliance, and documentation.
O2I is HOEPA compliant and has extensive expertise in Loan Processing, QC, Underwriting and Post-Closing Audits. The QC and Audit teams are thorough with different regulatory (State and Federal) requirements hence non-compliant loans are caught at an early stage of processing with the help of rigorous QC process. QC findings are sent to Loan Processors/Loan Officers for them to get required documents in place before the loan moves forward in the processing cycle. This ensures the borrowers don't get surprises just before the loan is about to close. With huge penalties involved, this also saves Lenders from unwanted trouble at a later stage.
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Flatworld Solutions
116 Village Blvd, Suite 200, Princeton, NJ 08540
Flatworld Mortgage Solutions LLC
116 Village Blvd, Suite 220, Princeton, NJ 08540
135 Camino Dorado, Suite 7, Napa, CA 94588.