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The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has created a new webpage, Know Before You Owe: The settlement professional's guide, to help settlement professionals navigate through the changes that are a part of the Know Before You Owe (a/k/a "TRID") mortgage initiative. The new page includes links leading to explanations of—

• how the previous four disclosures (early TIL, GFE, TIL and HUD-1) were consolidated into the Loan Estimate and Closing Disclosure;
• what has and hasn't changed about settlement agent and creditor responsibilities, consumer privacy and electronic delivery; and
• key areas to focus on when selected as the settlement agent for a transaction.

HUD has announced an agreement with Delvista Towers Condominium Association, Inc., of Aventura, Florida, and its property management company, resolving allegations of housing discrimination against residents with disabilities. HUD claimed the condo association and its property managers denied the reasonable accommodation requests of residents with disabilities who needed assistance animals. The Fair Housing Act makes it illegal to discriminate in the terms and conditions of housing for an individual based on a disability, including denying reasonable accommodations or making them unavailable. This includes refusing to permit persons with disabilities to have assistance animals when necessary.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced Tuesday the publication of the redesigned Uniform Residential Loan Application (URLA), the standardized form used by borrowers to apply for a mortgage loan. This is the first substantial revision made to the form in more than 20 years and the changes will allow lenders to deliver an easier, more consumer-friendly loan application experience. The redesigned URLA form includes a reorganized layout, simplified terminology, and new data fields that capture necessary information in an easy-to-read format.

Additionally, the GSEs worked together to create a common corresponding dataset, called the Uniform Loan Application Dataset (ULAD) to ensure consistency of data delivery. The documents are being published now, in an effort to provide the industry with ample time to become familiarized with the URLA and ULAD updates and plan necessary changes to their systems.

Lenders may begin using the redesigned URLA on January 1, 2018. A timeline for required use of the redesigned URLA and ULAD will be established at a later date. The forms are preliminary, and could still be updated after a CFPB review.

The Federal Reserve Board has announced the execution of a cease and desist order and the issuance of a $37,500 civil money penalty (CMP) against a former institution-affiliated party of Central State Bank (now known as CBI Bank & Trust), Muscatine, Iowa.

HUD and the Census bureau have jointly announced that the sales of new single-family houses in July 2016 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 654,000, 12.4 percent above the revised June rate and 31.3 percent above the July 2015 estimate. The median sales price of new houses sold in July 2016 was $294,600; the average sales price was $355,800. The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of July was 233,000. This represents a supply of 4.3 months at the current sales rate.

HUD and the VA have announced a second round of funding to help provide permanent homes to an estimated 108 veterans experiencing homelessness in seven states. The rental assistance announced today is provided through the HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing Program (HUD-VASH), which combines rental assistance from HUD with case management and clinical services provided by VA.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has taken action against Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., for illegal private student loan servicing practices that increased costs and unfairly penalized certain student loan borrowers. The Bureau identified breakdowns throughout Wells Fargo’s servicing process including failing to provide important payment information to consumers, charging consumers illegal fees, and failing to update inaccurate credit report information. The CFPB's order requires Wells Fargo to improve its consumer billing and student loan payment processing practices. The company must also provide $410,000 in relief to borrowers and pay a $3.6 million civil penalty to the CFPB. See "Wells pays $4 million for student loan servicing violations," in our Penalties pages, for more on this story.

A Current FAQ addition has been posted by the Federal Reserve Board addressing the question “What economic goals does the Federal Reserve seek to achieve through its monetary policy?”

The NMLS has announced the target date for Release 2016.3 is September 12, 2016. The release contains several enhancements and system maintenance updates. Release notes on the changes were also issued.

A summary of the August 2, 2016, meeting with the NMLS Ombudsman held in Tampa, Florida, has been posted.