The Illinois legislature recently amended provisions of its Residential Mortgage License Act (“Act”), effective December 19, 2018.  The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) announced the asset-size exemption thresholds for 2019 for Regulation C and Regulation Z.

ILLINOIS HOUSE BILL 5542

Licensees under the Act who are not filing a Mortgage Call Report with the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System and Registry must file an annual report with the Secretary of the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation regarding mortgage brokerage and servicing activities.

Licensees are required to provide timely notice to borrowers of any material change in the terms of the residential mortgage loan prior to the closing of the loan.  This requirement is satisfied by providing the borrower with the TILA/RESPA Integrated Disclosures (“TRID” disclosures).

REGULATION C (HOME MORTGAGE DISCLOSURE ACT)

The Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (“HMDA”) requires lenders located in metropolitan areas to collect data about their housing-related lending activity.  Banks, savings associations, and credit unions are exempt from collecting data based on their assets.  The CFPB has indicated the asset-size exemption will increase from $45 million to $46 for the upcoming year.  Therefore, banks, savings associations, and credit unions with assets of $46 million or less as of December 31, 2018 are exempt from collecting HMDA data in 2019.

REGULATION Z (TRUTH-IN-LENDING ACT)

The Truth-in-Lending Act (“TILA”) requires lenders to establish an escrow account for a higher-priced mortgage loan.  The CFPB has amended Regulation Z’s Commentary to reflect a change in the asset size threshold for certain lenders to qualify for an exemption to the requirement to establish an escrow account for a higher-priced mortgage loan based on the annual percentage change in the average of the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (“CPI-W”) for the 12-month period ending in November.  The exemption threshold is adjusted to increase from $2.112 billion to $2.167 billion.  Therefore, lenders with assets of $2.167 billion or less as of December 31, 2018 are exempt, if other requirements of Regulation Z are met, from establishing escrow accounts for higher-priced mortgage loans in 2019.