Federal Reserve System July 30, 2008 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Board is publishing final rules amending Regulation Z, which implements the Truth in Lending Act and Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act. The goals of the amendments are to protect consumers in the mortgage market from unfair, abusive, or deceptive lending and servicing practices while preserving responsible lending and sustainable homeownership; ensure that advertisements for mortgage loans provide accurate and balanced information and do not contain misleading or deceptive representations; and provide consumers transaction-specific disclosures early enough to use while shopping for a mortgage. The final rule applies four protections to a newly-defined category of higher-priced mortgage loans secured by a consumer's principal dwelling, including a prohibition on lending based on the collateral without regard to consumers' ability to repay their obligations from income, or from other sources besides the collateral. The revisions apply two new protections to mortgage loans secured by a consumer's principal dwelling regardless of loan price, including a prohibition on abusive servicing practices. The Board is also finalizing rules requiring that advertisements provide accurate and balanced information, in a clear and conspicuous manner, about rates, monthly payments, and other loan features. The advertising rules ban several deceptive or misleading advertising practices, including representations that a rate or payment is ``fixed'' when it can change. Finally, the revisions require creditors to provide consumers with transaction-specific mortgage loan disclosures within three business days after application and before they pay any fee except a reasonable fee for reviewing credit history.