No RESPA Claim for Violation of Written Acknowledgement Requirement under Regulation X

Last summer, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) published its final rule amending existing mortgage servicer rules in Regulation X of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA). Recently, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals had the opportunity to determine what kind of damages might arise from a violation of Regulation X’s written acknowledgment requirement.

The answer in this case was no concrete harm, with the Court affirming dismissal of a borrower's claim for violations of the 5 day written response acknowledgment provision of 12 C.F.R. § 1024.36(c). The borrower had sued his mortgage loan servicer for RESPA violations after his lawyer sent the servicer a Request for Information certified mail return receipt requested, and the servicer responded by returning the certified mail green card and by providing a substantive response 9 days later. More ›

A Spike in Student Loan Defaults Likely to Trigger Follow-on Litigation Surge

The student lending industry should pay close attention to the onslaught of litigation that mortgage loan servicers have faced for years. I recently authored an article on this topic for Law360. A Consumer Federation of America analysis has indicated that student loan defaults have risen at least 14 percent since 2015. Such a trend will likely make student lending market participants susceptible to increased regulatory scrutiny, and could also result in a spike in follow-on private litigation. More ›