Hold Harmless Bill Fails to Be Included in Omnibus Act; Future of Bill Uncertain

After TRID went into effect on October 3rd, Congress acted to minimize the potential legal and regulatory implications of such a major change to the closing rules for nearly every residential mortgage transaction in the U.S. As many of you will recall, the CFPB said they would be “sensitive” to regulatory oversight but offered no promises that they would not enforce the rules or offer any leniency for good faith mistakes.

At the urging of the title industry and others in the real estate community, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 3192, introduced by Rep. French Hill (R-AR), a bill to hold harmless good faith mistakes made in carrying out TRID for a period of five months: until February 1st, 2016. Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) introduced a similar bill in the Senate with nearly 20 co-sponsors.

The financial industry made a strong effort to get this bill included in the final budget bill that would go to the President’s desk. Regrettably, this did not happen. Virtually no regulatory relief items were included in the final bill. The President’s veto authority played a major role in all of these year-end negotiations.

With recent reports that loans made since TRID went into effect may have trouble being sold in the secondary market, many in the title insurance and real estate industries intend to ask Congress to consider this legislation again in early 2016.

Click here to read ALTA’s press release about the letter.