Industry groups want the Federal Reserve and the Department of Housing and Urban Development to make the merger of the TILA and RESPA mortgage disclosures a "first priority" and halt other related rule changes.
Consumers would be "far better equipped to navigate" the mortgage market if the regulators move in a coordinated effort to combine and improve the Truth in Lending Act and Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act disclosures. The way should be cleared for the stakeholders to channel their energies into this effort to facilitate its successful achievement," the Consumer Mortgage Coalition and several other trade groups say in a new letter.
The groups argue that the Dodd-Frank bill calls for numerous changes to regulations that have "stretched thin the compliance capabilities of financial institutions," adding that improving RESPA/TILA disclosures is "essential to true reform and needs to be the first stage of the reform process."
Industry groups specifically request that the Fed postpone work on a 1,000 page TILA proposal issued on Sept. 24 that is related to reverse mortgage disclosures, mortgage borrowers' rights of rescission and certain unfair acts and practices.
A successful RESPA/TILA integration effort will "necessitate moving" some of the Fed's rulemaking efforts to "later in the process," the groups claim.
Organizations signing the letter include: the American Bankers Association, American Financial Services Association, Community Mortgage Banking Project, Consumer Bankers Association, CMC, Housing Policy Council, Independent Community Bankers of America, and the Mortgage Bankers Association. The letter is dated Nov. 10.
