Fair-Lending Exams Coming in MA

Lenders who do 50 or more loans in Massachusetts will soon be subject to fair-lending examinations, according to Bonita Irving, senior deputy commissioner for compliance and community affairs at the Massachusetts Division of Banks.Ms. Irving, a member of the state regulators' panel at the 18th Annual New England Mortgage Banking Conference in Providence, R.I., said any derogatory results from those exams will have a direct impact on an institution's overall compliance rating. "While there has been no identification of trends yet, recently we found people did not respond within certain time frames or provide information in the format we requested," Ms. Irving said. "Rather than request information specific for Massachusetts, we will ask for all [Home Mortgage Disclosure Act] data, and we'll break it out ourselves." Mary Jurta, director of the New Hampshire Banking Department's consumer credit division, is part of a working group that is pursuing a national mortgage licensing system. "Fingerprints will be a critical part," Ms. Jurta told the panel. "The system will make the renewal process much easier.... A lot of it will require statutory changes." The conference was hosted by the Massachusetts Mortgage Bankers Association.