NAMB Applauds House Passage of Mortgage Choice Act

Phil Hall

Feb 12, 2018

NAMB has praised the House of Representative for passing HR 1153, the Mortgage Choice Act, which is designed to amend the Truth-in-Lending Act (TILA) to specify that neither escrow charges for insurance nor affiliated title charges shall be considered "points and fees" for purposes of determining whether a mortgage is a "high-cost mortgage."

NAMB President John G. Stevens called the bill “an important step toward creating a regulatory environment so that the housing market can thrive.” Stevens added over-regulation and regulation by enforcement resulted in swelling the costs of creating a mortgage to “close to $8,000, when historic costs were about half that amount.”

The bill, which was introduced by Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-MI) with bipartisan co-sponsorship, passed by a 280-131 vote on Feb. 8. However, no companion bill has been introduced in the Senate.

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Feb 12, 2018

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