WASHINGTON-In a recent letter to Senate Banking Committee Chairman Paul Sarbanes (D-Md.), CUNA expressed its support for the Predatory Lending Consumer Protection Act of 2002 (S. 2438). The purpose of the bill is to amend the Home Ownership Equity Protection Act (HOEPA) to address predatory lending practices. HOEPA sets disclosure requirements for loans with interest rates, points, and/or fees above certain thresholds. Sarbanes' legislation will lower those thresholds to six percentage points above comparable Treasury securities for first mortgages and eight percentage points above comparable Treasury securities for second mortgages. Additionally, HOEPA will apply when points and fees exceed the greater of 5% of the total loan or $1,000. Currently, the law reads 8% of the loan amount or $480. CUNA wrote in support of these lower thresholds, as well as other provisions of the bill including: *
prohibiting creditors from financing points, fees or other fees greater than 3% of the total loan or $600; *
requiring lenders to determine the borrower's ability to repay the debt before making the loan; *
Recommended For You
requiring lenders to inform borrowers of the risks of high-cost loans and the availability of counseling; *
prohibiting lenders from imposing prepayment penalties after the first 24 months of a loan; *
prohibiting balloon payments; *
prohibiting the advance collection of premiums for credit insurance as part of the mortgage transaction, but allowing the borrower purchase such insurance on a periodic basis as a separate transaction, if the insurance may be canceled at any time; *
prohibiting mandatory arbitration clauses in HOEPA loans, but permitting parties to agree to mandatory arbitration after a dispute arises; and *
imposing liability on both lenders and subsequent holders of loans arranged by a contractor if the contractor goes out of business.
© Touchpoint Markets, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more inforrmation visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
