A borrower can want help with a mortgage and still want unwanted collection contact to stop. The CFPB’s companion interpretation addresses that distinction in Part II.C. This retrospective October 22, 2016 weekend account examines the prior week’s October 19 publications, pairing that interpretation with the mortgage-servicing final rule rather than presenting a fresh Saturday development. [2016-18901][2016-18902]

After invoking the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act’s cease-communication right, a borrower may initiate a conversation about loss mitigation. The interpretation allows the servicer’s response to remain within that subject, including potentially available options and information needed for an application. It expressly rejects using such a conversation as a pretext for collection demands unrelated to a specific loss-mitigation option. [2016-18901][2016-18902]

The main rule’s early-intervention provisions and the companion’s Part II.B also distinguish required written notices from unrestricted live contact. The modified notice has conditions and exemptions, including circumstances involving bankruptcy or no available loss-mitigation option. A separate protection concerns compliant communications with confirmed successors. These are three limited situations, not a judgment that all contact is helpful or that other FDCPA duties disappear. [2016-18901][2016-18902]

Our ethical reading is that the purpose of an exchange should remain intelligible to the person seeking help. Most main-rule provisions and the companion interpretation take effect October 19, 2017; specified main-rule exceptions and the companion’s successor provision wait until April 19, 2018. The documents come from one CFPB process, not independent proof of better treatment. They do not promise a modification, an avoided foreclosure or immediate relief. [2016-18901][2016-18902]

Source documents

  1. Amendments to the 2013 Mortgage Rules Under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (Regulation X) and the Truth in Lending Act (Regulation Z)https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2016-10-19/html/2016-18901.htm
  2. Safe Harbors From Liability Under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act for Certain Actions Taken in Compliance With Mortgage Servicing Rules Under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (Regulation X) and the Truth in Lending Act (Regulation Z)https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2016-10-19/html/2016-18902.htm