The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released a bulletin onTuesday to clarify some mortgage servicing rules that take effect in January 2014.

In the bulletin, the CFPB included guidance on home retentionefforts after a borrower dies.

“The rules the CFPB issued in January require servicers to havepolicies and procedures in place to ensure that they promptlyidentify and communicate with family members, heirs, or otherparties who have a legal interest in the home,” said a CFPB pressrelease issued Tuesday.

“Today's bulletin provides examples of such servicer policiesand procedures, including allowing for continued payment on themortgage as well as evaluating the heir (or whomever the legalinterest in the home passes to) for assumption of the mortgageand, if appropriate, for loss mitigation measures,” the releasesaid.

The bulletin further clarified the requirements for contactingdelinquent buyers.

“The CFPB's new rules require servicers to attempt contact withborrowers each time they miss a payment to provide importantinformation that can help get them on track,” said the release.“Today's bulletin clarifies that this requirement may be metthrough other contact that servicers have with such borrowers, forexample, when evaluating them for loss mitigation or duringcollection calls.”

The method used to contact the buyer may vary depending on thelength of time that he or she has been delinquent or if theborrower has responded to past live contact attempts.

“Even if delinquent borrowers have instructed servicers to stopcommunicating with them pursuant to the FDCPA, certain notices andcommunications mandated by the CFPB servicing rules and theDodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act are stillrequired,” the bulletin clarified.

According to the guidance, servicers must communicate with theborrower about requests for information, loss mitigation, errorresolution, force-placed insurance, initial interest rateadjustment of adjustable-rate mortgages and periodicstatements.

“Servicers will not be required to provide certain earlyintervention contacts or ongoing notices of interest rateadjustments to delinquent borrowers who have instructed theservicer to stop communicating with them,” the CFPB releasesaid.

Servicers are also not required to provide periodic statementsto borrowers in bankruptcy, the bureau said.

“As servicing implementation enters its final phases, we heardfrom many sources that it was important to address theseremaining issues to ensure a smooth transition and providecertainty to the market,” said CFPB Director RichardCordray. “When mortgage servicers better understand the rulesthey have to follow, that is better for consumers.”

The interim final rule was scheduled to be released lateTuesday, the CFPB said.