An interim final rule is intended to give mortgage servicers more flexibility about when they can communicate with borrowers who have requested no contact.
At issue is the
Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, which gives consumers the option to request that companies stop contacting them except for limited purposes.
The interim regulation addresses changes made last year by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
requiring servicers to send written notices to borrowers at risk of foreclosure who have requested a cease in communication.
“Once these borrowers become delinquent, the bureau’s 2016 amendments generally require that mortgage servicers send notices to these consumers every 45 days to inform them of available foreclosure prevention options but prohibit servicers from sending the notices more than once in a 180-day period,” a CFPB statement Wednesday said. “The bureau has heard concerns that once a servicer sends a notice to one of these borrowers, the rule requires servicers to provide the next notice exactly on the 180th day after the prior one, regardless of whether it is a weekend or a holiday.”
Today’s notice indicated that its interim final rule gives servicers a 10-day window to provide the modified notice — a change that provides servicers with more certainty while maintaining borrower protections.
The interim final rule becomes effective on Oct. 19.
In addition, the CFPB is seeking comments for a proposed rule about the timing of periodic statements that are provided to bankrupt borrowers. If the proposed rule is finalized, it would become effective on April 19, 2018.
