By a 294-129 vote, the House today passed a bipartisan bill that would offer relief for smaller lenders with respect to escrow and servicing practices. Introduced by Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.), H.R. 3971 would provide an exemption from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s higher-priced mortgage loan escrow requirements for banks with less than $10 billion in assets, and it would provide exemptions to servicing rules for lenders servicing fewer than 20,000 mortgages annually.
“The important exemptions detailed in this legislation recognize the strong history of small institutions in providing high-quality mortgage servicing, even with limited staff and resources,” the American Bankers Association said when the bill cleared the Financial Services Committee. “Given their excellent track record, small servicers should be incentivized to continue to service mortgage loans.”
