On October 13, 2022 the Federal Department of Labor published findings in Vol. 87, No. 197 of the Federal Register. The W-2/1099 controversary hits many businesses. As stated in previous posts, there is no special 1099 consideration for mortgage loan originators. Regardless of which state you work in or which type of employer your work for, Mortgage Loan Originators are required to have their income reported on IRS Form W-2. There are many companies that …
The overlap between federal and state laws and regulations becomes very apparent once there is an examination and/or an enforcement action. With COVID dominating our work environment over the past two years, not many audits or exams were scheduled by state regulators. That is all about to change. They are way behind and will begin the process of catching up sooner than you may be ready for. In many cases where mortgage companies get caught …
With the new URLA behind us…along comes the next major change in residential lending. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (aka the GSEs) have provided an update on the new URAR. Yes, the Uniform Residential Appraisal Report is undergoing some major changes. Here are just a few highlights: Input was gathered from 107 stakeholders across the industry in designing the new form. The key benefits of the new form are: Dynamic output with commentary placed within each …
With rates going up, refinance volume quickly heading south and originators looking for the next shiny thing, we are bound to see movement in the industry. That means mergers, buyouts and some companies closing. Migrating originators can be a tricky challenge for the next employer. There are two issues that may surface; who owns the customer and how were the originators compensated? I’ll save the former for another time. Last week I received a call …
Real estate transactions are the easiest way to launder money due to the size of the transactions and the amount of money that can be “cleaned”. All financial institutions are required to comply with the Bank Secrecy Act. Money laundering may also involve tax fraud as well as other potential crimes. All “financial institutions” must comply. According to the Bank Secrecy Act, a “financial institution” includes an exhaustive list of entities, including but not limited to: …