Responding to multiple letters and aggressive advocacy by ABA, top regulators yesterday clarified their approach to assessing compliance with the TILA-RESPA integrated disclosures. Identical letters from Comptroller of the Currency Thomas Curry, FDIC Chairman Martin Gruenberg and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray to ABA said the agencies recognize the daunting challenges posed by TRID implementation and will “recognize the scope and scale of changes necessary” in their early examinations for TRID compliance.
“The member agencies of the [Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council] recognize that the mortgage industry has needed to make significant systems and operational changes to adjust to the requirements of the rule, and that implementation requires extensive coordination with third parties,” the letters said. “We recognize that … additional technical and other questions are likely to be identified once the new forms are used in practice after the effective date.”
In light of widely reported delays in the delivery and testing of TRID systems from vendors, the agencies said they would consider institutions’ “overall efforts” to comply, as well as the institutions’ implementation plans, updated policies and procedures, staff training and “handling of early technical problems.”
The agencies said they would employ a “similar” approach to the one they used after the CFPB’s mortgage rules took effect in January 2014. In congressional testimony earlier this week, Cordray characterized this approach as “diagnostic, not punitive.” The approach reflects the one ABA said it expected in a memo to members sent on Tuesday. For more information, contact ABA’s Rod Alba.
