30 April 2012 – Consumer Financial Services Watch

Conflicted Out: When Must a Servicer Follow FHA Guidelines over the Global Foreclosure Settlement Servicing Standards?

Apr 30 2012

The National Servicing Standards, outlined in the March 2012 Global Foreclosure Settlement, are difficult to reconcile with the already stringent servicing requirements in place for the Federal Housing Administration’s (“FHA”) single family loan insurance program. The National Servicing Standards are expressly subject to and must be interpreted in accordance with applicable federal, state and local laws, rules and regulations, and the terms and provisions of the requirements, binding directives and investor guidelines of the mortgage insurer, including FHA. In the event of a conflict between such requirements and the National Servicing Standards such that a servicer cannot comply with the National Servicing Standards without violating these requirements or being subject to adverse action, then the servicer must document such conflicts and notify the monitoring committee that the servicer intends to comply with the FHA requirements to the extent necessary to eliminate the conflict. Read More

Maryland “Facebook Law” Regulates Employer Access to Social Media Accounts

Apr 30 2012

By: David A. Tallman, Andrew L. Caplan

It is increasingly common for employers to request that job applicants and employees divulge the passwords to their Facebook accounts and to other social media sites. This trend has not gone unnoticed by the media and privacy advocates, which view this practice as an intrusive violation of individual privacy. On the other hand, employers often have valid reasons to exercise oversight over social media activities, especially in financial services and other highly regulated industries where employees’ activities may be more likely to cause the company to incur liability. Read More

Archive:30 April 2012