Don't give out disclosures that don't apply to that particular borrower.
Talking about the Massachusetts rule on blank disclosures ...
"Hey should that disclosure go out in this package or not?"
"Eh, who cares, just send it to be safe!"
General Rule
Ever give out a disclosure that doesn't apply, and figure, "what could it hurt?" Well, it's a prohibited practice in Massachusetts to give a borrower a disclosure that is:
Incomplete
Blank
Not applicable to the borrower
This is found in 209 CMR 42.12A(6). Of course, they're applying it a little more broadly in exams than you might think from the written language. Probably not the worse thing anyone will ever do, but just want you to know so you can keep an eye out!
For Example
We see the third case as most commonly cited in exams. So, for example, you have a Connecticut disclosure in a Massachusetts loan file. Or a disclosure that only applies to 1st lien loans in a 2nd lien home equity loan.
Other examples might be where a disclosure is filled out incorrectly (or not at all on accident). These are more intuitively incorrect. Maybe Loan Origination and Compensation Agreements weren't completely filled out, or maybe the initial disclosures aren't. Maybe you figure there's no risk of steering in this transaction so you don't completely fill out the Anti-Steering Disclosure- "what's the harm in just keeping it in the file anyway?" but still have the borrower sign it.
In other news:
Who said "housing bubble"? Here's a garage for sale in DC for $900,000!
And here's a $7.5 million fine from the CFPB on overdraft fees ...
The Quicken lawsuit is the talk of the town, you can read about it here, here, and here.
You've heard about the Justice Department's lawsuit against Quicken Loans? It's an interesting situation, with verbal stinger missiles going back and forth ... The DOJ says Quicken's culture "elevated profits over compliance." Quicken says that "This is government run amok." And that the DOJ's complaint "is riddled with inaccurate and twisted conclusions from fragments of a handful of e-mails cherry-picked from 85,000 documents." Ooh boy. But you do cringe on Quicken's behalf when you read some of these e-mails they dug up ... when discussing an exception made on an FHA loan, a senior Quicken executive explained it was approved because of "bastard income," a term he used to describe "trying to put some kind of income together that is plausible to the investor even though we know its creation comes from something evil and horrible."
But Quicken is fighting back, portraying itself as Westley climbing the mountain while Montoya waits to kill him (see this youtube video around 30 seconds)
Are you one of those people who think "If I died and went straight to hell it would take me a week to notice I wasn't at work." Or maybe you have one of those people working for you? Some think the key to being happy at work is to focus on the results, not the time spent. We all know the dreaded clock watcher, Mr. 9:01-4:59. No good business should care whether you work 12 hours or 3 -- all that matters is performance. Sure, a top performer is going to have some 12 hour days, but they should also have the freedom to leave at 3 o'clock one day to watch their kid's basketball game. Again who cares? If your culture is all about results, it doesn't matter where or when people are getting work done, so long as it is getting done. Working 8:00 am to 8:00 pm with 4 hours of Facebook time doesn't add any more to the bottom line than putting in an honest 8 to 5.
"Sometimes, 'magic' is just someone spending more time on something than anyone else might reasonably expect."
- Teller
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