DSI's DocMagic software has been performing federal Section 32 high cost loan determinations for years now. In July 2002, DSI's DocMagic software was enhanced to perform a state-specific high cost loan determination in response to California's adoption of its high cost home loan law. Thereafter, DSI's DocMagic software was updated periodically to perform state-specific high cost loan determinations in Colorado, Florida, Georgia and Maryland. In our continuing effort to provide useful compliance tools to DocMagic users, DSI is pleased to announce the integration of 16 additional state-specific high cost loan determinations and display screens into DSI's flagship DocMagic loan document preparation software, bringing the total number of jurisdictions for which the DocMagic software performs high-cost loan determinations to 21:

	Arkansas		Massachusetts
	California		Nevada
	Colorado		New Jersey
	Connecticut		New Mexico
	District of Columbia		New York
	Florida		North Carolina
	Georgia		Ohio
	Illinois		Oklahoma
	Kentucky		Pennsylvania
	Maine		South Carolina
	Maryland

DocMagic takes the guesswork out of your state-specific high cost loan determinations. The display screens are easy to read and understand. While we are compliant in the first instance, we continue to give you the power to override any of our standard computations settings with a simple phone call. To take full take advantage of the new state specific high cost loan determinations, you must upgrade to DocMagic version 7.49. If you have any questions, simply call us at (800) 649-1362 and ask to speak to one of our customer service representatives.

We have recently revised our prepayment charge matrix in response to legal changes in the following states: Arkansas, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma and South Carolina.

To view our updated prepayment matrix, please visit OTS Says: Parity Act No Longer Preempts Prepayment Penalties

On January 8, 2004, the staff of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, National Credit Union Administration, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Office of Thrift Supervision, and the United States Department of the Treasury released interpretive guidance regarding the application of 31 C.F.R. § 103.121, the joint regulation implementing those provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act that require banks, savings associations, credit unions and certain non-federally regulated banks to have a Customer Identification Program, or "CIP." The interpretive guidance is provided in the form of a frequently asked questions ("FAQs") document.

To view the FAQs document, click here.

In order to keep DocMagic software users better apprised of document changes and additions as they occur, DSI posts listings of all newly created and revised documents. Here is the list of forms created or modified in January 2004.

The following article is reprinted from Basis Points® , Vol. 2, Issue 8, Copyright © 2003, with the permission of CounselorLibrary.com, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission.

The U.S. Supreme Court has made its ruling in a long-awaited decision, with the Court not ruling on the issue of whether class action arbitrations may be ordered in circumstances in which the arbitration agreement does not expressly address class action arbitration. However, the Court's decision suggests that an arbitration clause may prohibit class action arbitrations.

The following article is reprinted from Basis Points® , Vol. 2, Issue 9, Copyright © 2003, with the permission of CounselorLibrary.com, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission.

On August 20, 2003, the Governor of Illinois signed into law Senate Bill 1784 (Public Act 93-0561), known as the High Risk Home Loan Act. The Act takes effect on January 1, 2004 and is one more in a growing list of state predatory lending statutes enacted this year. The Illinois statute preempts relevant administrative rules previously promulgated and supercedes previously enacted laws regulating "high risk home loans," except the Interest Act. The Act prohibits the waiver of any of its provisions unless otherwise explicitly provided.

The following article is reprinted from Basis Points® , Vol. 2, Issue 11, Copyright © 2003, with the permission of CounselorLibrary.com, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission.

Beware! Just because you get your home mortgage borrower to sign a statement that she received her TILA disclosures does not mean that you are home free. She will not be prohibited from later claiming that she did not receive the disclosures, so you'd better have additional evidence that you provided them to her.

The following article is reprinted from Basis Points® , Vol. 2, Issue 12, Copyright © 2003, with the permission of CounselorLibrary.com, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission.

In a troubling decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit broke rank with the Fourth, Seventh and Eighth Circuits in concluding that a single party can violate RESPA by charging an excessive fee for a settlement service.