Voglio sapere a riguardo di…

9842

Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 30 / Wednesday, February 17, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
TILA applies with respect to the purpose of TILA section 129D. That purpose is to ensure that consumers understand and appreciate the full cost of home ownership. The purpose of TILA section 129D is also informed by the findings articulated in TILA section 129Ba that economic stabilization would be enhanced by the protection, limitation, and regulation of the terms of residential mortgage credit and the practices related to such credit, while ensuring that responsible and affordable mortgage credit remains available to consumers.25
For the reasons discussed in this document, the Bureau is amending Regulation Z to implement EGRRCPA
section 108 to carry out the purposes of TILA and is adopting such additional requirements, adjustments, and exceptions as, in the Bureaus judgment, are necessary and proper to carry out the purposes of TILA, prevent circumvention or evasion thereof, or to facilitate compliance. In developing these aspects of the rule pursuant to its authority under TILA section 105a, the Bureau has considered: 1 The purposes of TILA, including the purpose of TILA section 129D; 2 the findings of TILA, including strengthening competition among financial institutions and promoting economic stabilization; and 3 the specific findings of TILA section 129Ba1 that economic stabilization would be enhanced by the protection, limitation, and regulation of the terms of residential mortgage credit and the practices related to such credit, while ensuring that responsible, affordable mortgage credit remains available to consumers.
In addition, in previous rulemakings, the Bureau adopted two of the regulatory provisions this rule now amends. In adopting those provisions, the Bureau relied on one or more of the authorities discussed above, as well as other authority.26 The Bureau is amending these provisions in reliance on the same authority, as discussed in detail in the Legal Authority or sectionby-section analysis parts of the Bureaus final rules titled Escrow Requirements Under the Truth in Lending Act and Amendments Relating to Small
jbell on DSKJLSW7X2PROD with RULES

25 See
15 U.S.C. 1639ba.
26 Specifically, TILA section 129Dc authorizes the Bureau to exempt, by regulation, a creditor from the requirement in section 129Da that escrow accounts be established for higher-priced mortgage loans if the creditor operates in rural or underserved areas, retains its mortgage loans in portfolio, does not exceed together with all affiliates a total annual mortgage loan origination limit set by the Bureau, and meets any asset-size threshold, and any other criteria the Bureau may establish. 15 U.S.C. 1639c1.

VerDate Sep<11>2014

15:56 Feb 16, 2021

Jkt 253001

Creditors and Rural or Underserved Areas Under the Truth in Lending Act Regulation Z. 27
V. Section-by-Section Analysis Section 1026.35Requirements for Higher-Priced Mortgage Loans 35a Definitions 35a3 and 4
The escrow requirement exemption in EGRRCPA section 108 is available to insured credit unions and insured depository institutions. Section 108
amends TILA to provide definitions for these two terms, at TILA section 129Di3 and 4. Insured credit union has the meaning given the term in section 101 of the Federal Credit Union Act 12 U.S.C. 1752, and insured depository institution has the meaning given the term in section 3 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act 12
U.S.C. 1813.
The Bureau proposed to include these definitions with the existing definitions regarding HPMLs, in 1026.35a. No commenters discussed these definitions or objected to the EGRRCPAs limitation of eligibility for the new exemption to insured credit unions and insured depository institutions. The Bureau now adopts these definitions as proposed.
35b Escrow Accounts 35b2 Exemptions 35b2iii EGRRCPA section 108 amends TILA
section 129D to provide that one of the requirements for the new escrow exemption is that an exempted transaction satisfy the criterion previously established by the Bureau and codified at Regulation Z
1026.35b2iiiD. Section 1026.35b2iiiD establishes as a prerequisite to the exemption that a creditor or its affiliate is not already maintaining an escrow account for any extension of consumer credit secured by real property or a dwelling that the creditor or its affiliate currently services.28 The purpose of this prerequisite is to limit the exemption to institutions that do not already provide escrow accounts and thus would have to incur the initial cost of setting up a system to provide such accounts.
Instead, only institutions that are otherwise eligible for the exemption but already provide escrow accounts would bear the burden of providing such accounts, with the overall burden for them being lower because they are continuing to provide them rather than 27 See 28 78

PO 00000

78 FR 4726 and 80 FR 59944, 5994546.
FR 4726, 473839.

Frm 00006

Fmt 4700

Sfmt 4700

incurring the cost of starting them up.
This prerequisite, however, is subject to two exceptions.
First, under 1026.35b2iiiD2, a creditor would not lose the exemption for providing escrow accounts as an accommodation to distressed consumers to assist such consumers in avoiding default or foreclosure. The Bureau did not propose to and is not amending this exception.
Second, under 1026.35b2iiiD1, the Bureau in its original escrow exemption rule 29
granted an exception from the nonescrowing requirement to creditors who established escrow accounts for firstlien HPMLs on or after April 1, 2010
the effective date of the Boards original HPML escrow rule, and before June 1, 2013 the effective date of the Bureaus first HPML escrow rule that included the Dodd-Frank exemption for certain creditors the original escrow exemption. The purpose of this exception was to avoid penalizing creditors that had not previously provided escrow accounts but established them specifically to comply with the regulation requiring escrows.30
Over time, as the Bureau amended the HPML escrow exemption criteria and made more creditors eligible, the Bureau also extended the end date for the exception to the non-escrowing requirement in 1026.35b2iiiD, so that creditors that had established escrow accounts in order to comply with the Bureaus regulations could still benefit from the relief provided by the Bureaus amendments to the exemption criteria.31 The Bureau most recently extended the date to May 1, 2016, consistent with the effective date of the Bureaus latest amendment to the HPML
exemption criteria.32
The proposed rule proposed to amend this exception again, explaining that the dates in then-current 1026.35b2iiiD1 between which creditors were allowed to maintain escrow accounts for first-lien HPMLs without losing eligibility for the exemption April 1, 2010, until May 1, 2016 were necessary to allow creditors to benefit fully from the existing escrow exemption. However, those same dates 29 The terms original and existing escrow exemption refer throughout this document to the regulatory exemption at 1026.35b2iii, either as implemented by the January 2013 final rule or as subsequently amended through 2016. They do not refer to the exemptions or exclusions listed at 1026.35b2i.
30 78 FR at 473839.
31 See, e.g., 80 FR 59944, 59968 adjusting end date to January 1, 2016.
32 See Operations in Rural Areas Under the Truth in Lending Act Regulation Z; Interim Final Rule, 81 FR 16074 Mar. 25, 2016.

E:FRFM17FER1.SGM

17FER1