National Homeowners Bill of Rights Act of 2014
Latest action. Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services.
National Homeowners Bill of Rights Act of 2014 - Amends the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act of 1974 to require servicers of federally related mortgage loans to: (1) establish for each borrower's account a single electronic record accessible throughout the servicer, including its agents, and all its affordable loan modification staff, foreclosure staff, and bankruptcy staff; and (2) maintain a free, publicly accessible website where borrowers may check their estimated net present value.
Requires servicers to provide free oral interpretation services, as well as translated documents, upon borrower request, which may be provided by contracting with housing counseling agencies approved by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
Prescribes requirements for the affordable loan modification process, including: (1) evaluation of borrowers facing imminent default, (2) assistance in applying for affordable loan modification, (3) treatment of successors in interest, (4) loan transfers, and (5) restrictions upon foreclosure proceedings.
Bars sale of the property securing the mortgage if the servicer of the mortgage does not file a certification with the appropriate land records office where the property securing the mortgage is located, stating that the servicer has determined the eligibility of the mortgagor for an affordable loan modification.
Prescribes criteria governing: (1) mortgagor's eligibility to participate in an affordable loan modification, (2) earned principal forgiveness, (3) principal reduction, and (4) treatment of junior liens.
Subjects a servicer who violates this Act to a civil penalty, and to liability to the borrower. Limits to $1 million the maximum penalty for all violations committed by any particular servicer during any one-year period.
Directs the Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to appoint a Mortgage Servicer Ombudsman.
Subjects to a maximum fine of $7,500 per loan a servicer who records or files with a land records office or a court more than one document with material deficiencies (robo-signing) with respect to a mortgage loan.
Extends indefinitely the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act of 2009 by repealing its termination date.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on June 25, 2014. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on June 25, 2014: Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 113th Congress (2013-14), 296 of the 9,091 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.3 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-NM) introduced it on June 25, 2014, and 5 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They are 5 Democrats.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on June 25, 2014, 4460 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 4460 days ago, on June 25, 2014.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 113th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2015 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers