The Rhode Island Department of Business Regulation (DBR) has once again extended the date prior to which they will take no enforcement action related to the use of disclosures under the Rhode Island Home Loan Protection Act (HLPA) and the emergency regulations promulgated thereunder issued on December 29, 2006. Initially, the emergency regulations delayed enforcement action related to the use of disclosures to February 1, 2007. This date was subsequently extended to March 1, 2007. In Banking Bulletin 2007-3, the DBR announced that no enforcement action related to the use of disclosures would be taken prior to April 1, 2007. Please note that the "no enforcement" action relates only to the use of disclosures; failure to comply with all other provisions of the HLPA remains subject to enforcement action. To view a prior Compliance Wizard article regarding the disclosures required under the HLPA, please click here.

Recently we have received a number of inquiries from DocMagic customers requesting confirmation that the DocMagic software's treatment of negative prepaid (also known variously as "odd-days" or "per diem") interest for Countrywide-specific loan plans is consistent with Countrywide's policies. In short, the answer is "yes."

In response to customer inquiries regarding trustee requirements on a per-State basis, DocMagic's Compliance Department has prepared a matrix that shows which states, including the District of Columbia, require a trustee to be designated in the security instrument, and, if required, whether any restrictions apply to trustee selection, and the citation to the governing legal authority.

Here is the matrix: Trustee Requirements Matrix.

Please feel free to contact the DocMagic Compliance Department if you have any questions regarding the content of this article.

The Financial Institutions Division of the Ohio Department of Commerce has posted three (3) new model disclosures to its website and updated four (4) of the model disclosures that it previously provided in December, 2006.

In Florida, all property and casualty risk policies issued or renewed effective January 1, 2007 will be subject to an emergency assessment of one percent (1%) of the premium. This same percentage will apply to all transactions "related" to each policy, including endorsements to that policy and audit premiums. The Florida State Board of Administration (SBA) has directed the Office of Insurance Regulation to levy this assessment, because the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund's reserves have been depleted due to unprecedented hurricane seasons in 2004 and 2005. Click here to view a copy of the order. And, for additional information regarding the assessment, please click here.

This month DSI posts loan programs of 1st National Lending Services, CitiMortgage-Broker Division, and CitiMortgage-Correspondent Division, and updates to the loan programs of American Home Mortgage Services Inc., Countrywide, Long Beach Mortgage, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo Bank to its Compliance page. Find out the description of each investor's loan program, which promissory notes, prepayment riders and addenda are used, and what the rate caps and interest-only periods are for variable rate loans by visiting our Investor Updates page.

The DocMagic software has been enhanced to accommodate the revocable trust signature requirements of AmTrust Bank ("AmTrust").  AmTrust requires that if the borrower in a mortgage loan is a trustee AND settlor of a revocable trust, that borrower must sign the following documents as an individual AND trustee on at least the following loan documents:

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 2007.