Since 1995, the courts, the Illinois Attorney General and the Illinois Office of Banks and Real Estate had all concluded that the limitations on permissible points under the Illinois Interest Act (815 ILCS 205/4.1a(f)) had been preempted by the federal Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act of 1980 ("DIDMCA"). As a result of DIDMCA's preemption, the Interest Act's 3% cap on charges with respect to any mortgage loan with an interest rate in excess of 8% could be ignored. However, the recent (March 2004) Illinois Appellate Court (First District) decision in U.S. Bank v. Clark effectively reversed this position by concluding that Illinois had "opted out" of DIDMCA in 1992 when the Illinois Interest Act was modified and reenacted.

Article 9 of Section 24 of the Indiana Code entitled Home Loan Practices ("Article 9") becomes effective on January 1, 2005. Article 9 applies to virtually all closed-end loans with a principal amount equal to or less than the Fannie Mae conforming loan size limit secured by one- to four-family, owner-occupied dwellings. Major exclusions include loans made or acquired by any state- or federally-chartered financial institution, HUD-insured and VA-guaranteed loans, and loans eligible for purchase by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, or the Federal Home Loan Bank Board.

Freddie Mac has recently created, renumerationbered and/or revised a number of documents use in connection with their ARM products. The mandatory effective date for use of these revised documents is June 28, 2004. DSI will implement these revisions in connection with ARM plans using Freddie Mac documents by the mandatory effective date. If you wish to implement the revised document before that date, or if you have any questions regarding these revisions, please feel free to contact DSI's customer service department at (800) 649-1362.

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 from April through June, 2004.

The following article is reprinted from Basis Points® , Vol. 3, Issue 5, Copyright © 2004, with the permission of CounselorLibrary.com, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission.

On March 26, the Federal Reserve Board issued amendments to Regulation Z and the Official Staff Commentary.

The following article is reprinted from Basis Points® , Vol. 3, Issue 6, Copyright © 2004, with the permission of CounselorLibrary.com, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission.

Effective March 5, 2004, the District of Columbia Department of Banking and Financial Institutions amended Title 26A of the D.C. Municipal Regulations to add a new Chapter 11. The new chapter provides rules for the registration, examination, investigation, and supervision of mortgage lenders and brokers in the District. Click here for the new regulations.