regulations. These laws and regulations are complex, compliance with them may be costly and time consuming, and our failure to comply with any of these laws and regulations could subject us to lawsuits or government actions and damage our reputation, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, liquidity and results of operations.
Regulatory Risks
We operate in a highly regulated industry with continually changing federal, state and local laws and regulations.
The mortgage industry is highly regulated, and we are required to comply with a wide array of federal, state and local laws and regulations that restrict, among other things, the manner in which we conduct our loan production and servicing businesses, including the fees that we may charge and the collection, use, retention, protection, disclosure and other processing of personal information. These regulations directly impact our business and require constant compliance, monitoring and internal and external audits. Both the scope of the laws and regulations and the intensity of the supervision to which our business is subject have increased over time in response to the financial crisis, as well as other factors, such as technological and market changes.
The laws and regulations and judicial and administrative decisions relating to mortgage loans and consumer protection to which we are subject include, for example, those pertaining to real estate settlement procedures, equal credit opportunity, fair lending, fair credit reporting, truth in lending, fair debt collection practices, service members protections, unfair, deceptive and abusive acts and practices, federal and state advertising requirements, high-cost loans and predatory lending, compliance with net worth and financial statement delivery requirements, compliance with federal and state disclosure and licensing requirements, the establishment of maximum interest rates, finance charges and other charges, ability-to-repay and qualified mortgages, licensing of loan originators and other personnel, loan originator compensation, secured transactions, property valuations, insurance, servicing transfers, payment processing, escrow, communications with consumers, loss mitigation, debt collection, prompt payment crediting, periodic statements, foreclosure, bankruptcies, repossession and claims-handling procedures, disclosures related to and cancellation of private mortgage insurance, flood insurance, the reporting of loan application and origination data, and other trade practices. For a more detailed description of the regulations to which we are subject, see “Business—Regulation.”
We also must comply with federal, state and local laws related to data privacy and the handling of personally identifiable information, or PII, and other sensitive, regulated or non-public data. These include the recently enacted California Consumer Privacy Act, or the CCPA, and we expect other states to enact legislation similar to the CCPA, which limit how companies can use customer data and impose obligations on companies in their management of such data, and require us to modify our data processing practices and policies and to incur substantial costs and expenses in an effort to comply. The CCPA, among other things, requires new disclosures to California consumers and affords such consumers new abilities to opt out of certain sales of personal information, in addition to limiting our ability to use their information. The CCPA provides for civil penalties for violations, as well as a private right of action for certain data breaches that result from a failure to implement reasonable safeguards. This private right of action may increase the likelihood of, and risks associated with, data breach litigation. The service providers we use, including outside counsel retained to process foreclosures and bankruptcies, must also comply with some of these legal requirements. Changes to laws, regulations or regulatory policies or their interpretation or implementation and the continued heightening of regulatory requirements could affect us in substantial and unpredictable ways.
The influx of new laws, regulations, and other directives adopted by federal, state and local governments in response to the recent COVID-19 pandemic exemplifies the ever-changing and increasingly complex regulatory landscape in which we operate. While some regulatory reactions to COVID-19 relaxed certain compliance obligations, the forbearance requirements imposed on mortgage servicers in the recently passed CARES Act added new regulatory responsibilities. The GSEs and the Federal Housing Finance Agency, or the FHFA, Ginnie Mae, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, state and local governments, various investors and others have also issued guidance relating to COVID-19. Future regulatory scrutiny and enforcement resulting from COVID-19 is unknown.
Our failure to comply with applicable federal, state and local consumer protection and data privacy laws could lead to:
• | loss of our licenses and approvals to engage in our servicing and lending/loan purchasing businesses; |
• | damage to our reputation in the industry; |