COMPLIANCE & LEGAL ISSUES SEMINAR

Schedule

CHICAGO, IL | JULY 13-14, 2023

Seminar Schedule
See full day schedule
 Thursday, July 13                Friday, July 14
​Schedule is subject to change. Last updated 5/22/2023. 
​All times listed are Central Time.

Thursday, July 13

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7:00 AM - 5:00 PM
​​Location: Astor Court
Registration Open
​Check in at Registration to pick up your badge upon arrival and grab ribbons and USFN member pins. Stop by any time during the event with questions or to get event information.
8:00 AM - 8:45 PM
​​Location: Riverfront Room
Breakfast Buffet
In addition to starting your day with a bite to eat and a cup of coffee (or two!), kickoff your conference experience by meeting and reconnecting with conference attendees.​
9:00 AM - 9:15 AM
​​Location: Astor Ballroom​
Compliance Seminar Kickoff: Welcome & Housekeeping
This is the official start of the conference, so please be sure to grab a seat before 9:00 AM. USFN President Lisa Lee will kickoff the conference by welcoming attendees, orienting them to the schedule, thanking sponsors, and covering a variety of other housekeeping items prior to our first education session.​
9:15 AM - 10:15 AM
​​Location: Astor Ballroom
Keynote: Mark McArdle
​Thoughts on Default Servicing of Mortgages from the Perspective of a CFPB Leader
Session Overview: Join us for a discussion with Mark McArdle, Assistant Director, Mortgage Markets, for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, where we will explore recent regulatory and enforcement initiatives of the CFPB that impact our industry, as well as a future outlook of what may be on the horizon.
FULL SESSION DESCRIPTION
Outline:
  • What issues and trends are the CFPB seeing in the servicing and legal enforcement of defaulted mortgages?
  • Does the CFPB have any new proposals for regulations that will impact default mortgage servicing in the coming years?
  • Coming out of the Pandemic, do you have any thoughts or concerns about the end of particular mortgage modification relief programs?
  • What concerns do you have about consumer protection in a period of increasing interest rates, tightening credit, uncertain employment numbers, and rising inflation?
  • What specific concerns do you hear about how attorneys and servicers handle specific types of mortgage loans such as HELOC’s, Reverse Mortgages, FHA, or VA products?
  • With the upcoming Presidential election, and a divided Congress, do you see any potential for new legislation or Executive Orders that might impact mortgage servicing in the next couple years?
  • How much does the CFPB interact with the state AG’s, and do you see any of them taking up additional enforcement actions that the CFPB is not presently addressing?
  • How can our industry interact with the CFPB in a meaningful way that might allow us to cooperate in solving challenges that we face in interpreting and implementing CFPB regulations and prior enforcement actions?
  • What do you perceive as the biggest challenges facing homeowners in the coming years?
​
SPEAKER(S)
10:45 AM - 11:45 AM
​​Location: Astor Ballroom
Panel Presentation - State of the Industry: Title Insurance & Its Impact
What are the current and looming challenges faced by the title insurance industry? And more specifically, what does the recent approval of Attorney Opinion Letters (AOLs) by GSEs and the VA mean for the mortgage default industry?
FULL SESSION DESCRIPTION
Outline:
  • Three approaches to title – advantages and disadvantages: 
    • servicer-directed title 
    • law firm-directed title
    • Attorney Opinion Letter
      • How are these the same, how different?
      • Pros and cons: impacts on quality of product and division of labor between vendors 
      • Relative costs of each
      • Impact on marketability of title
  • Insured versus uninsured title products
    • Practical differences
    • Relative cost
    • When is one preferred over the other? 
  • Two-owner search:
    • Is a two-owner search adequate? 
    • The limitations of a two-owner search
    • Issues that arise due to two-owner search and how to resolve them
  • HUD and VA title standards – real risk versus imaginary
    • Engagement with HUD and VA vendors regarding state title standards
    • Responding to re-conveyance letters premised on incorrect title standards
  • Title claims during foreclosure
    • Managing impact on timelines
    • Controlling costs
    • When are delays unavoidable?
    • Ensuring that coverage is never waived
    • Managing outside title counsel
​
SPEAKER(S)
11:45 AM - 12:45 PM
​​Location: Riverfront Room
Networking Lunch
Take a break from the education and join us in the Riverfront Room on the Lobby Level to refuel, reconnect, and enjoy the beautiful views of the Chicago River.​
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
​​Location: Astor Ballroom
Compliance & Remediation for Servicers & Law Firms Roundtables
Session Overview: Join Judy Newberry, Chief Compliance Officer of Aldridge Pite, LLP, as she hosts a Compliance Roundtable along with Thomas Song, Senior Regulatory Operations Counsel, LoanCare. This engaging and unique roundtable will cover remediation of errors, preventative compliance and fortifying compliance systems and processes after remediation from both a law firm and servicer perspective. Additional points will cover anti-dual tracking, audits, error requests and state-level regulatory developments. You will have the opportunity to hear perspectives and tips from the law firm and servicer side of these issues.
FULL SESSION DESCRIPTION
Outline:
  • Scenario one: Sale has occurred, but any of the following has also occurred: 
    • a.) borrower filed for BK just before sale, 
    • b.) borrower field for BK a week before sale but notice was not served, or 
    • c.) borrower filed or BK one month prior and both servicer and firm were notified.  Now what? 
  • Scenario two: Foreclosure complaint is sent for filing.  However, servicer determines that
    •  a.) a facially complete loss mitigation package was received the day before. 
  • When errors are identified, what are the first steps?  Correct harm, and what else?
    • Servicer
    • Law firm
  • What constitutes “good communication?”
    • Timing
    • Correct recipients
    • Contents
  • Determining whether error is a one-off or systemic: how??
    • Acknowledgement
    • Reason for error
    • Review of process 
  • Transparency:
    • How to properly document
    • Tracking remediation or policy change
    • How to be prepared for regulatory review?
  • What to if the “harm” cannot be undone?
    • Example: Service of summons is completed after receipt of a complete loss mit package.
  • Remediation:  A How-To Discussion:
    • Determine cause
    • Identify needed policy or process changes
    • Does a file population need to be reviewed?
    • Do any fees or costs need to be reversed?
    • Determine needed re-training or corrective action
    • Are additional controls or QC steps required?
  • Errors in the context of sub-vendors:
    • When vendors choose vendors
    • Adequacy of letters of engagement/contract
    • Third-party compliance engagement
    • Communication of regulatory/legal or best-practice changes
  • Best Practices & Learnings from Errors: War Stories
​
SPEAKER(S)
2:30 PM - 3:30 PM
​​​​Location: Astor Ballroom
Solutions Providers Panel Presentation - Compliance by Design: Coordinating Your Function with Second, Third & Fourth Parties
Session Overview: Our panel of default servicing solution providers will present a multi-dimensional view on compliance, looking at all relationships and discussing risks and mitigation of those risks in an era of efficiency.
FULL SESSION DESCRIPTION
Outline:
  • What are the dimensions?
    • 4th (vendors of vendors)
    • 3rd (3rd party/vendor/partners/integrators)
    • 2nd (client)
    • What are we looking at?
      • Data privacy (Meghan)
      • Vendor Management
        • FTC Safeguards rule and its application to servicing data (Wendy)
        • Bank Relationships/Intelligence
        • Building on your Vendor Management Plan (Erica)
      • CFPB
      • ESG
    • How do you organize around this?
      • Centralized vs distributed
        • Organizational, Individual in charge, compliance team, change management
      • Check into in data security
        • IT, conflicting, matter related document/data security
      • HR items of interest (Meghan)
        • Securing employee data, dealing with employee issues, why servicers ask for it vs. dangers to requiring credit checks of your vendor employees
      • Finance
        • Controls over spend, fraud, money laundering
      • Pure legal - anti trust, contract management
        • How do you check your legal - ensure legal is run with an eye toward anti-trust
    • How do your clients view this?
    • How do your insurance carriers weigh in?
    • What does the board do to focus on compliance?
SPEAKER(S)
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
​​Location: Astor Ballroom
Panel Presentation - Predicting the Future of Regulation & Compliance
Session Overview: What does the future hold in a time of uncertainty over the funding and scope of authority of the CFPB?  Will state legislatures take action to backstop CFPB regulation for non-chartered banks?  Will state legislatures attempt to wrestle control back from the CFPB, emboldened by circuit level opinions?  Are there lessons to be learned from legislation passed during the last few years?  How do you set up a compliance model in a time of such uncertainty?
FULL SESSION DESCRIPTION
Outline:
  • What happens if the CFPB’s funding mechanism is ruled unconstitutional
  • Impact on past rulings
  • Path forward for the CFPB, would Congress have the will to act?
  • Potential alternative regulatory tools available to the Executive Branch
  • Impact on servicers of possible changes that would follow the ruling
  • The impact of West Virginia v. EPA and the scope of the Dodd-Frank Act
  • Has the CFPB been avoiding some formal rulemaking to avoid a fight? 
  • How to respond to regulation by aspirational press release
  • State regulation in the event the CFPB steps back:
    • What states would likely see increased regulation?
    • Possible areas that states are likely to address
    • Current examples
  • A study in contrasts – Texas vs. Oregon
  • Establishing compliance practices when the rules can change with each election

SPEAKER(S)
6:00 PM - 9:00 PM
​​Location: House of Blues
Offsite Dinner/Entertainment at the House of Blues
Plan to join us Thursday evening, July 13 for a special off-site dinner at the House of Blues, Chicago’s premier restaurant and concert venue. Enjoy cocktails, dinner, and entertainment in this unique setting which combines the grandeur of a European Opera House with a down-home juke joint. Spend time getting to know other attendees in a casual setting just minutes from the Westin Chicago River North. This event is included with both one- and two-day seminar registrations.

Tickets are available for dinner only for guests of registered attendees: $199 for personal, non-industry guests of USFN members; $99 for personal or industry guests of servicers that are not attending the seminar. Guest tickets can be purchased during registration.

Friday, July 14

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7:00 AM - 4:00 PM
​​Location: Astor Court
Registration Open
​Check in at Registration to pick up your badge upon arrival and grab ribbons and USFN member pins. Stop by any time during the event with questions, purchase additional CLE states, get event information, and more.
7:30 AM - 8:15 AM
​​Location: Riverfront Room
Breakfast Buffet
Whether you're only joining us on Friday or you're continuing on from a jam-packed Compliance Day, start your day off on the right foot! We'll have a full breakfast buffet, complete with bacon and coffee. Lots of coffee!
8:30 AM - 8:40 AM​​​​Location: Astor Ballroom
Legal Issues Seminar Kickoff: Welcome & Housekeeping
This is the official start to Day 2, so please be sure to grab a seat before 8:30 AM. USFN Legal Issues Section leaders Mike Feiwell and Jeanette O'Donnell will kickoff the conference by welcoming attendees, orienting them to the schedule, thanking sponsors, and covering a variety of other housekeeping items prior to our first education session.​
8:40 AM - 9:25 AM
​​Location: Astor Ballroom
Keynote: Manny Newburger
Hot Regulatory Issues: Cases & Proposed Rulemaking
Session Overview: A discussion of both cases currently pending before the Supreme Court challenging the CFPB funding structure. We will explore potential outcomes and consequences that may result from these Supreme Court Cases. This session will also discuss proposed rulemaking plus challenges all of us are facing with Reg. F. This session is one that in-house counsel will not want to miss in order to ensure risks are being mitigated as best we can.
FULL SESSION DESCRIPTION
Outline:
  • Challenges to the CFPB's Funding
    • Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, et al., Petitioners v. Community Financial Services Association of America, Limited, et al., SCOTUS Docket No. 22-448
      • History of the case
      • Issue before the Court
      • Timing of the case
    • Integrity Advance, LLC and James R. Carnes v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, SCOTUS Docket No. 22-838
      • History of the case
      • Issue before the Court
      • Timing of the case
    • Potential outcomes and consequences
  • Proposed Rulemaking
    • Registry of Repeat Offenders
    • Registry of Non-Bank Contracts
    • Non-Compete Agreements
  • Existing Rulemaking - Reg. F MVN Issues
    • ​Do I or Don't I date the letter?
    • Inconsistent state law disclosures
    • Itemization Date
  • What if you wake up and there's no CFPB (at least for a while)?
    • ​The CFPB is not the only federal enforcer
    • State enforcement of the CFPA
    • State consumer financial protection laws
​
SPEAKER(s)
9:40 AM - 10:55 AM
​​Location: Astor Ballroom
Consumer Protection Case Law Update
Session Overview: Join in-house counsel from mortgage servicers and USFN members as we discuss the latest judicial opinions relating to the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, Truth in Lending Act, Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, and consumer protection generally, the impact of the decisions on processes and procedures, and strategies for avoiding exposure.​
FULL SESSION DESCRIPTION
Outline:
  • Fair Debt Collection Practices Act
    • Imeson v. Nationstar Mortgage, LLC, 2023 WL 2891008 (D. Colo. 4/11/23)
    • Bernard v. Bruce, 2023 WL 2730269 (W.D. Ky. 3/30/23)
    • Grooms v. Pennymac Loan Services, LLC, 2023 WL 2646921 (E.D. Pa 3/27/23)
    • Ward v. NPAS, Inc., 2023 WL 2624200 (6th Cir. 3/24/23)
    • Felberbaum v. Mandarich Law Group, LLP, 2023 WL 1943107 (2nd Cir. 2/13/23)
    • Usevicz v. Weltman Weinberg & Reis, Co. of Michigan, 2023 WL 1928495 (E.D. Mich. 2/10/23)
    • Rogers v. GS Services limited Partnership, 2023 WL 2124298 (S.D. Fla 2/9/23)
    • Lowe v. FBCS, Inc., 2023 WL 154970 (3rd Cir. 1/11/23)
  • Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act
    • Grenadyor v. SN Servicing Corporation, 2023 WL 2663954 (N.D. Ill. 3/28/23)
    • Walker v. PHH Mortgage Corporation, 2023 WL 1778514 (S.D. Fla. 2/3/23)
    • Naimoli v. Ocwen Loan Servicing, LLC, 22 F. 4th 376 (2nd Cir. 2022)
    • Hurst v. Caliber Home Loans, Inc., 44 F. 45h 418 (6th Cir. 2022)
  • Other Cases of Interest
    • Freedom Mortgage Corp. v. Dean, 2023 WL 405032 (M.D. Fla. 1/26/23)
​
SPEAKER(S)
11:10 AM - 11:55 AM
​​Location: Astor Ballroom​
Keynote: William Collins
Session Overview: Listen to a detailed Q&A with Bill Collins about current and future issues in the servicing sphere at HUD. Find out current issues, anticipated issues, and what HUD is preparing for in the servicing/default world in the post-COVID years.​
FULL SESSION DESCRIPTION
Outline:
  • Introduction
    • Background, role at HUD, how department fits
  • Covid-related events
    •  HUD’s approach
    • What worked
    • What didn’t work
  • Future
    • Does HUD have any concerns about law firm and servicer viability in the event of another natural event on the scale of Covid?
    • Lessons learned.  What can we use in future and what won’t work?
  • Curtailments.  Changes anticipated to process?
  • Home retention options
  • Legal issues
  • Q/A
SPEAKER(s)
11:55 AM - 12:55 PM
​​Location: Riverfront Room
Lunch Buffet
Take a break from the education and join us in the Riverfront Room on the Lobby Level to refuel, reconnect, and enjoy the beautiful views of the Chicago River.​
1:10 PM - 2:25 PM
​​Location: Astor Ballroom
Legal Issues Roundtable
Session Overview: This session will allow you to collaborate with peers in small groups to discuss best practices and legal ramifications on an array of issues facing the mortgage servicing industry. Some of the topics that will be discussed will be: ‘junk fees’ in mortgage servicing as discussed by the CFPB and recent cases regarding the periodic statement, the debt validation model form, and many more. Pointed questions will facilitate a lively discussion that you will not want to miss. ​
FULL SESSION DESCRIPTION
Outline:
  • "Junk Fees" in Mortgage Servicing as Discussed by the CFPB
    • Overcharging Late Fees
    • Charging Consumers for Unnecessary Property Inspections
    • Misrepresenting that consumers owe PMI Premiums
    • Charging Consumers Fees that should have been waived
    • Charging Consumers for PMI after it should have been removed
    • Charging Late Fees after sending Periodic Statements listing a $0 late fee
  • Case Studies Discussions
    • Freedom Mortgage Corp. v. Dean, 2023 WL 405032 (Jan. 26 2023)
    • Freedom Mortgage Corp. v. Olivera (2021) IL App (2d) 190462
    • Roger v. GC Services Limited Partnership, 2023 WL 2124298 (S.D. Fla 2/9/23)
SPEAKER(S)
Moderators
2:45 PM - 4:00 PM
​​Location: Astor Ballroom
Panel Presentation - Ethical Considerations in the Twenty-First Century
Session Overview: As we have moved into the 21st Century, and faced a global pandemic, ethical rules and enforcement continues to grow and change with the times. As flat fee billing becomes more common across the legal industry states are taking a fresh look at ethical considerations. We also look at pro se borrowers and what you should know when confronting them now that we are getting back to the courthouse. We take a look back at the ethical rules and opinions relating to remote work that became so important during the pandemic. Finally, we consider ethical considerations related to artificial intelligence, including what to know and what you need to tell your clients!
FULL SESSION DESCRIPTION
Outline:
  • Flat Fee Billing
    • History
    • Model Rule 1.5 Fees
    • Model Rule 1.15 Safekeeping Property
    • Model Rule 1.16 Declining or Terminating Representation
  • Pro Se Borrowers
    • Model Rule 4.3 Dealing with Unrepresented Person
    • Model Rule 4.1 Truthfulness in Statements to Others
    • Model Rule 4.4 Respect for Rights of Third Persons
    • Model Rule 1.13 Organization as Client
    • Bankruptcy Specific Concerns
    • Model Rule 4.2 Communication with Person Represented by Counsel
  • Remote Work
    • ABA Formal Opinion 495 (12/16/2020)
    • ABA Formal Opinion 498 (3/10/2021)
  • Ethics of AI
    • Common legal uses for AI
    • Types/Examples of AI
    • Ethical Considerations
      • Confidentiality
      • Bias and Fairness
      • Competence
      • Transparency
      • Duty of Supervision
      • ABA Resolution 112
SPEAKER(S)
4:00 PM
Conference Concludes
Thank you for attending the Compliance & Legal Issues Seminar. Before you depart the conference, please be sure to complete your CLE paperwork to ensure you get the proper credits. After the conference, you'll receive a survey about the event. We appreciate you completing this evaluation to help us continually improve USFN events. Safe travels as you head home.
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All content, presentations, handouts, emails, website content, mobile app content, etc. provided by USFN in its publications, in connection with USFN events and otherwise (“Content”) is for educational purposes only, and should not be considered legal advice or a legal opinion. Every matter is different and poses a unique set of facts and circumstances. Legal advice can only be provided after analysis of all the facts and circumstances of a particular matter. In addition, all Content is current only through the date it is provided, and may change after that date due to changes in the law, custom, industry standards or best practices. We suggest that you consult with your USFN local counsel if you wish to retain a firm to provide legal advice on a particular issue or matter. Please do not hesitate to contact USFN for contact information for our firms for that purpose. ​