Mortgages

BuckleySandler is a leading provider of legal services to the mortgage lending industry.  We represent eight of the top 10 mortgage originators and eight of the top 10 mortgage servicing companies in the United States.  Additionally, our clients include numerous regional banks and lenders, start-up firms, mortgage insurers, broker-dealers, private equity investors, specialty servicers, warehouse lenders, e-commerce and technology vendors, home builders, mortgage industry trade associations and other participants in the mortgage industry.  Our attorneys are nationally recognized authorities on the myriad of laws affecting this industry, including the:

• Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) and Regulation B
• Fair Housing Act (FHA)
• Community Reinvestment Act (CRA)
• Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA)
• Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank)
• Truth in Lending Act (TILA) – Section 32
• Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA)
• Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP)
• Federal Home Administration program
• National Flood Insurance Act and Flood Disaster Protection Act
• Federal Trade Commission Act – Section 5 (UDAP)
• Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act (HOEPA)
• Homeowners Protection Act (HPA)
• Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA)
• Civil Rights Act of 1866
• Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)
• Fair Debt Collections Practices Act (FDCPA)
• National Bank Act (NBA)
• Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act of 2008 (SAFE Act)
• Secondary Mortgage Market Enhancement Act of 1984 (SMMEA)
• False Claims Act
• State and local fair and anti-predatory lending laws and regulations
• State licensing laws
• State usury laws
• State debt collection laws
• State high cost mortgage loan laws
• State foreclosure laws
• State foreclosure prevention laws

Enforcement

BuckleySandler handles a wide variety of mortgage industry enforcement matters initiated by the Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, state Attorneys General, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Reserve Board, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the Federal Housing Administration, state mortgage regulatory agencies and other agencies. We frequently handle complex parallel proceedings involving concurrent government enforcement and civil litigation, congressional investigations, and/or multiple class actions.  Additionally, we regularly assist clients in responding to bank regulatory examinations, including fair lending examinations, as well as multi-state regulatory examinations.  We also assist clients in responding to FHA, VA and Ginnie Mae audits and Inspector General reviews and defend clients before the FHA Mortgagee Review Board.

Litigation

BuckleySandler represents mortgage industry clients in a wide range of class action and complex civil litigation matters, including multi-district class and mass actions, and other complex civil litigation, as well as in arbitrations and other alternative dispute resolution proceedings. We regularly defend clients in cases involving allegations of fair and responsible lending, unfair competition and deceptive trade acts and practices, fraud, false statements, false claims, breach of contract, loan repurchase claims, and breach of fiduciary duties, as well as other claimed violations of regulations and laws governing the mortgage industry.  We also have an active appellate practice and regularly serve as amicus curiae counsel on cases with industry-wide importance.

Counseling and Compliance

BuckleySandler provides compliance and risk management advice to our mortgage industry clients to help them achieve compliance with the ever-changing local, state and federal laws and regulations. We have significant experience developing and implementing comprehensive compliance management programs, including written policies, training and ongoing monitoring to address compliance with lending laws and regulations. We are on the forefront of mortgage lending and servicing issues and have played an active role in the majority of federal compliance initiatives coming out of the government agencies, including the last major rewrite of the GSEs’ uniform security instrument and the more recent interagency horizontal review of the mortgage servicing industry.

We regularly conduct 50-state surveys of laws governing the mortgage industry and have a developed a comprehensive database of state laws purporting to regulate the mortgage lending and servicing activities of banks, known as StateSource.  For more information on StateSource, click here.

Transactions

BuckleySandler transactional attorneys represent clients in a range of transactions. By leveraging our knowledge of the mortgage industry, our experience handling litigation and enforcement matters, our deep understanding of the laws and regulations and regulatory expectations associated with the mortgage industry, we help to mitigate risk while achieving the most favorable business terms possible for our clients.  Our experience includes negotiating and drafting the following types of agreements: 

• Mergers and acquisitions of mortgage brokers, lenders and servicers
• Asset purchase and sale transactions, including loans and servicing rights
• Distressed asset purchases and sales agreements
• Broker, correspondent and wholesale lending agreements
• Servicing and subservicing agreements
• Pooling and servicing agreements
• Warehouse lending agreements
• Outsourcing agreements
• Joint venture agreements, including RESPA-compliant affiliated business arrangements
• Co-branding agreements
• Marketing agreements, including affinity marketing arrangements
• Vendor agreements, including loan origination, servicing, collections and settlement services vendors

Public Policy

BuckleySandler lawyers frequently advise corporate clients and industry trade associations on pending federal and state legislative and regulatory developments.  We provide strategic advice to clients, draft legislative and regulatory language, prepare comment letters and advocate on behalf of clients before Congress, regulatory agencies and state legislatures.

Key Mortgage Services

• Representing companies and individual officers and directors at every stage of government investigations and enforcement actions
• Defending clients in federal and state courts against mortgage lending and servicing claims
• Providing regulatory counseling on compliance matters involving fair and responsible lending and servicing, mortgage fraud and anti-money laundering, preemption, privacy and information security, and electronic delivery of commercial and residential loans
• Assisting clients in formulating and implementing new policies and procedures to ensure compliance with recently enacted federal and state laws and regulations
• Advising clients on day-to-day, ongoing compliance matters.
• Evaluating loan practices and portfolios for disparate pricing and treatment of protected classes of borrowers to assess fair lending compliance
• Advising clients on the full spectrum of issues related to the origination, servicing, and sale of mortgage loans including disclosures, federal loan requirements (specifically Veteran's Affairs and Federal Housing Administration requirements), origination and servicing fees and allowable loan terms
• Drafting multi-state and state-specific mortgage loan documents and disclosure forms in English and Spanish
• Securing federal and state approvals and licenses, including approvals for corporate structure, changes of control, changes of management and changes of location