Some rural financial institutions are exempted from a new regulation that will require mortgage servicers to maintain escrow accounts on high-priced loans.
A final rule issued on Sept. 13 by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau requires servicers to create escrow accounts for certain first-lien higher-priced mortgage loans.
The regulator was empowered by Congress through the Dodd Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 with the responsibility for adopting the mortgage rules.
Residential loan servicers are required by the rule to maintain escrow accounts for a minimum period of five years.
The change is effective on Jan. 1, 2014.
But lenders that had operated predominantly in rural or underserved counties during the preceding three calendar years have been exempted in the final rule.
On Tuesday, the CFPB issued a full 2011 list of counties considered rural and underserved. The list, as well as lists for 2013 and 2012, is online at www.consumerfinance.gov/guidance/.
