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~ON THE LEGISLATIVE FRONT~
ASSEMBLY BILL 957 (Galgiani) - "BUYER'S CHOICE ACT"
AB 957 is a measure which would prohibit Lender/Sellers who acquired
property to residential real property through foreclosure to require the
buyer to use settlement services from a company specifically chosen by the
Lender/Seller. In addition, the Lender/Seller would not be allowed to
disapprove of the use of a title or escrow company chosen by a buyer unless
the Lender/Seller has good cause.
AB 957 is strongly supported by a range of small independent escrow
licensees, real estate agents, title companies, and other settlement service
providers, and is co-sponsored by the Escrow Institute of California. It is
an attempt to provide smaller settlement service providers the opportunity
to compete for business, as well as give consumers the ultimate decision and
therefore "choice" to select their preferred settlement service provider.
The measure passed the Banking and Finance Committee and the Assembly
Judiciary Committee with amendments.
Given the diverse group of settlement providers within the members of the
California Escrow Association, CEA supports the bill in concept,
acknowledging that principals have the right to their choice of settlement
providers.
For a synopsis of the bill and what has been happening go to :
www.leginfo.ca.gov
http://t.pm0.net/s/c?fj.cb98.12.6vdw.715h and look for Bill 957.
RESPA GUIDELINES AND DISCLOSURES
April 28, 2009 Newsdate
The House Financial Services Committee amended the Mortgage Reform and
Anti-Predatory Lending Act (H.R. 1728) today to require HUD to suspend the
implementation of its new Good Faith Estimate (GFE) and HUD-1 Settlement
Statement, and instead to work with the Federal Reserve Board (Fed) to
publish a proposed joint rule with comparable RESPA and Truth-in-Lending Act
(TILA) disclosures within six months of enactment of H.R. 1728, and a final
joint rule with comparable RESPA/TILA disclosures within one year of its
enactment.
ASSEMBLY BILL 33 (NAVA) –
CREATION OF A DEPT OF FINANCIAL SERVICES
Assembly Bill 33 (Nava) was approved April 13th in the Assembly Banking
Committee. This bill would abolish the Department of Real Estate, the
Department of Corporations, the Department of Financial Institutions, and
the Office of Real Estate Appraisers. AB 33 proposes to transfer the powers,
duties, purposes, jurisdiction and responsibilities of those departments to
the Department of Financial Services, which would be a newly created
overarching department. The bill can be accessed at:
www.leginfo.ca.gov
http://t.pm0.net/s/c?fj.cb98.12.6vdw.715h under Bill AB 33.
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