Revised Regulation X (Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act) As Finalized November 12, 2008 (December 2008)
According to HUD’s Secretary, Steve Preston, it had been a year since President Bush stood in the Rose Garden and promised new mortgage rules as “part of a comprehensive plan to address rising foreclosures. Now the Administration is making good on that promise by moving forward with RESPA reform to help families avoid getting into trouble in the first place.”

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Regulation Z Revisions Target Subprime Abuses and More (August 2008)
The Regulation Z revisions themselves are not limited to subprime loans. While some apply only to a new category of “higher-priced mortgages,” others apply to all closed-end mortgages secured by a consumer’s principal dwelling. And then there are the new advertising provisions, which apply even more broadly, to all mortgages.

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RESPA Reform Proposal (March 2008)
RESPA reform is back. On March 14, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) published an ambitious, book-length proposal to reform Regulation X, HUD’s implementing regulation for the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA). HUD said the proposed changes will take effect a year after publication of a final regulation, and allow voluntary compliance during that transition period. HUD requested that comments on the proposal be submitted by May 13.

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An Economic Outlook for 2008 and Beyond (January 2008)
Custom requires an economic outlook for the New Year. There are three themes that deserve special attention in 2008.

1. This will be the year of China. In addition to the Beijing summer Olympics, much of the world economy hinges on developments in China.
2. Americans will select a new president. It will be the first election since 1928 in which neither candidate is an incumbent president seeking reelection, or vice president seeking to succeed his boss as president.
3. Finally, will 2008 see the fallout from the subprime mortgage market and housing boom of recent years push the Goldilocks economy into recession?

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What to Expect in 2008 (January 2008)

• Mortgage Crisis and the Housing Market
• Major Legislative and Regulatory Developments

We owe the subprime market crisis to those lenders who decided that risk, as we have understood the term, somehow no longer existed in the mortgage market, and made loans to people who really couldn’t afford them. Then we discovered, or rediscovered, that the housing market which has always been cyclical, hasn’t changed: it’s still cyclical.

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Bank Regulators Accelerate Pace of FACT Act Implementation (January 2008)
The regulators are back on track. November 2007 was a busy month for federal bank regulators, especially with regard to their rule-writing responsibilities under the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (FACT Act). After taking some heat from Congress last summer over the slow pace of their FACT Act implementation, federal financial institution supervisors finished 2007 with a flurry of new FACT Act rules.

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