ABSTRACT

This chapter focuses on the interaction between mortgage lender, intermediaries and their customers and Federal legislation and regulations used to protect borrowers both before and after the crisis. Dodd-Frank makes the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau responsible for setting detailed rules and enforcing a range of legislation including Truth in Lending Act, Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act 1974, and Home Mortgage Disclosure Act 1975. The chapter considers the ‘Qualified Mortgage’ as a regulatory concept and whether it may be beneficial to adopt it in the UK. The foundation of US consumer mortgage policy is to provide borrowers with the information needed to let them choose. The chapter also considers importance of understanding the recent major changes to mortgage conduct of business regulations in the context of the overwhelming desire in the US to support a broad popular aspiration to own ones’ home.