The Washington Post and The New York Times are both reporting on potential restructuring of the financial system when the new administration takes over in January.

We all heard President-Elect Donald Trump call the Dodd-Frank Act a “disaster” during his campaign. The Washington Post article reports his transition team has a stated goal, “to dismantle the Dodd-Frank Act and replace it with new policies to encourage economic growth and job creation.” What, exactly, does this mean?  At this point, we don’t know.

But The New York Times article states Representative Jeb Hensarling, a Texas Republican who chairs the House Financial Services Committee, has long been an opponent of Dodd-Frank and has introduced his idea for reform, the Financial Choice Act. “Choice”, according to the article, stands for Creating Hope and Opportunity for Investors, Consumers and Entrepreneurs.

It seems clear that the Republican controlled Congress will work hard to make sweeping changes to this legislation that has basically rocked our collective worlds with the implementation of new forms and rules for closings. We promise to keep everyone up to date as this drama unfolds. We can only hope that, from a closing standpoint, the changes won’t be as sweeping as those we have just tackled!

In other CFPB news, the Bureau is investigating seller financing situations involving National Asset Advisors LLC, National Asset Mortgage LLC and Harbour Portfolio LLC. Orders involved in these investigations can be read on CFPB’s website.

We should pay attention to these enforcement proceedings because seller financing for residential owner-occupied residences has become a concern in South Carolina as a result of the interplay of the federal and state SAFE Acts, HUD’s final rule, released in 2011, and Dodd Frank’s Consumer Financial Protection laws.

The interplay between these laws appears to require licensing and registration of mortgage loan originators for mortgages of owner-occupied residences other than the sale of the seller’s residence. Clients who fail to become licensed as loan originators or fall into an exemption may find they are unable to close, and may, along with the attorneys who closed the transactions, be subject to claims and litigation.

The CFPB has broad enforcement powers, including the power to impose civil monetary penalties ranging from $5,000 to $1 million per day. South Carolina’s legislature could improve this situation greatly by addressing certain inconsistencies between our version of the SAFE Act and the federal version. Again, we will attempt to keep everyone up to speed on this issue as it develops.