zli12321/Bills huggingface dataset:
Stopping Abuse and Fraud in Electronic Lending Act of 2013 or SAFE Lending Act of 2013 - Amends the Electronic Fund Transfer Act to authorize the issuance of remotely created checks only if the consumer has designated in writing a person to issue them.

Defines a "remotely created check" as one that: (1) is not created by the financial institution that holds the customer account from which the check is to be paid; and (2) does not bear a signature applied, or purported to be applied, by the person from whose account the check is to be paid.

 Treats as a preauthorized electronic fund transfer (EFT) subject to the protections of such Act any voluntary repayment by a consumer of an extension of a small-dollar ($5,000 or less) consumer credit transaction by means of an EFT.

Amends the Truth in Lending Act to require any small-dollar consumer credit transaction made over the Internet, telephone, FAX, mail, electronic mail, or other electronic communication, as well as any conducted by a national bank, to comply with the laws of the state in which the consumer resides with respect to annual percentage rates, interest, fees, charges, and such other matters as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) may determine.

Prohibits a person from facilitating, brokering, arranging, gathering applications for, distributing sensitive personal financial information, or extending credit in connection with a small-dollar consumer credit transaction unless that person is directly providing the small-dollar consumer credit to the consumer.

 Empowers the CFPB to investigate violations of this Act. Sets forth investigative and cease-and-desist enforcement procedures, particularly with respect to both covered onshore persons (state governments or Indian tribes) or offshore persons (which conduct business directed to U.S. residents but from a location outside, and without a domain name registered or assigned by an authority within, any U.S. judicial district).

Directs the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to study the availability of capital on Indian reservations and the impact that small-dollar consumer credit extended through Internet and non-Internet means to members of Indian tribes has had upon economic opportunity and wealth for tribal members.

Date: 2013-03-06
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Consumer Finance)
Subject: Finance and financial sector
Fair Access to Credit Scores Act of 2013 - Amends the Fair Credit Reporting Act to require certain consumer reporting agencies to disclose, without charge, as part of a consumer's free annual disclosure upon request, a current credit score generated using the scoring methodology most frequently used to generate scores sold to creditors, including information regarding other risk scores or predictors in the consumer's file.

Requires the agencies also to furnish such other consumer information as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) considers appropriate with respect to consumer financial education, including where the consumer's credit score falls with respect to a range of possible credit scores, and the general factors contributing to the credit scores of consumers.

Requires such agencies, upon consumer request for either a credit score or a risk score, to supply any such score in the consumer's file at the agency.

Requires the agencies to maintain credit scores or other risk scores or predictors in the consumer's file for at least one year after the data is generated.

Directs the CFPB to develop regulations establishing a mandatory format for consumer file disclosures.

Date: 2013-03-06
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Consumer Finance)
Subject: Finance and financial sector
End Unnecessary Borrowing Act of 2013 - Amends the National Housing Act with respect to the requirement that the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) endeavor to ensure that the Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund attains a capital ratio of not less than 2% within 10 years after enactment of that requirement (November 5, 1990) and to ensure that the Fund maintains at least that capital ratio at all times thereafter.

Prohibits these requirements from being construed to authorize or require the Secretary to borrow any amounts to comply with the capital ratio requirement.

Limits the use of any authority of the Secretary to borrow from the Treasury for the Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund only to the extent necessary to pay claims on mortgage insurance that is an obligation of such Fund.

Date: 2013-03-07
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Consumer Finance)
Subject: Housing and community development
Short Sale Transparency Act of 2013 - Directs the Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency to require the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac), in any case in which one or the other denies the purchase of a residential mortgage loan made to finance the purchase, under a short sale, of a covered dwelling on the basis that the purchase price involved is insufficient, to disclose promptly to the prospective seller the amount by which the purchase price was less than the minimum purchase price sufficient for approval of the purchase of such mortgage.

Date: 2013-03-21
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Consumer Finance)
Subject: Housing and community development
Disaster-Affected Homeowners Notification Act of 2013 - Requires certain notifications if, in connection with any major disaster declared pursuant to the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Director of the Federal Housing Agency, the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae), or the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) makes available forbearance relief with respect to any covered mortgage, or any such agency head or enterprise issues any notice or guidelines to mortgagees or servicers recommending or requiring such relief.

Directs the applicable agency head to provide: (1) to each mortgagor under a covered mortgage direct notification of the forbearance relief made available, required, or recommended; and (2) for areas subject to such disaster declaration, community-wide notification of such relief.

Directs the applicable agency heads to issue guidelines regarding measures designed to provide notice and awareness of forbearance relief.

Date: 2013-04-11
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Consumer Finance)
Subject: Housing and community development
National Financial Literacy Act of 2013 - Amends the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 to require federal financial supervisory agencies jointly to prescribe regulations establishing: (1) minimum standards to be met by a community-based financial literacy program in order to be eligible for consideration as a qualified community-based financial literacy program; (2) procedures for financial institutions to apply to a federal financial supervisory agency for approval of such a program; and (3) a requirement that financial institutions submit a regular report on how the institution supported and promoted financial literacy in its entire community, including low- and moderate-income neighborhoods.

Authorizes a federal financial supervisory agency to take an institution's direct support of a qualified community-based financial literacy program into account when it assesses the institution's record of meeting the community's credit needs.

Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a tax credit to small businesses for 35% of the expenses paid or incurred for providing qualified continuing financial education to their employees.

Date: 2013-04-12
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Consumer Finance)
Subject: Finance and financial sector
Mortgage Settlement Monitoring Act of 2013 - Establishes the Office of the Independent Monitor to determine the compliance with its terms of all parties to the amended consent orders (settlement) finalized on February 28, 2013, between the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and 11 mortgage servicing companies subject to enforcement actions for unsafe and unsound practices related to residential mortgage loan servicing and foreclosure processing, as well as any future agreement between the Board and the Office and a mortgage servicing company.

Date: 2013-04-24
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Consumer Finance)
Subject: Housing and community development
Housing Opportunity and Mortgage Equity Act of 2013 - Directs the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) (government-sponsored enterprises or GSEs) each to carry out a one-year program providing for the refinancing of qualified single-family housing mortgages it owns through a refinancing mortgage (and for the purchase of and securitization of such refinancing mortgages) in accordance with this Act and the policies and procedures of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA).

Defines a qualified mortgage as one, regardless of whether the mortgagor is current on payments due or in default, that: (1) is an existing first mortgage for purchase of, or refinancing another first mortgage on, a one- to four-family dwelling, including a condominium or a share in a cooperative ownership housing association, that is occupied by the mortgagor as principal residence; (2) is owned or guaranteed by the particular GSE; and (3) was originated on or before enactment of this Act.

Specifies the terms and conditions of a refinancing mortgage, including a 40-year term to maturity and a prohibition on borrower fees. Requires waiver or forgiveness of all fees and penalties related to any default or delinquency on the original mortgage.

Authorizes the FHFA Director, in his or her sole discretion, to require each enterprise to pay a servicer an appropriate fee for each qualified mortgage of an enterprise that the servicer refinances through a refinancing mortgage.

Prohibits any requirement of a property appraisal.

Date: 2013-04-24
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Consumer Finance)
Subject: Housing and community development
Preserving American Homeownership Act of 2013 - Requires the Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and the Federal Housing Commissioner each to establish a pilot program to encourage, through assistance provided under the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) under the Secretary of the Treasury's Making Home Affordable initiative, the use of shared appreciation mortgage modifications that: (1) are designed to return greater cash flow to investors than other loss-mitigation activities, including foreclosure; and (2) result in positive net present value for the investor.

Requires a shared appreciation mortgage modification to: (1) reduce by specified action the loan-to-value ratio of a covered mortgage to 115% immediately upon modification and to 95% within 3 years; (2) reduce the interest rate if such a principal reduction would not result in an affordable reduced monthly payment; (3) reduce to a specified amount any periodic payment the homeowner is required to make; (4) require the homeowner to pay the investor, after refinancing or selling the real property securing a covered mortgage, up to 50% of the amount of any increase in the value of the real property during a specified period; and (5) result in a positive net present value for the investor after taking into account the principal reduction and, if necessary, any interest rate reduction.

Requires the Director to: (1) provide that an enterprise may negotiate regarding a shared appreciation mortgage modification of a covered mortgage with any mortgage insurance provider for a mortgage on the subject property, and (2) allow advanced claim agreements with respect to such mortgage insurance policies.

Date: 2013-04-25
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Consumer Finance)
Subject: Housing and community development
Medical Debt Responsibility Act of 2013 - Amends the Fair Credit Reporting Act to prohibit a consumer reporting agency from making any report containing information related to a fully paid or settled medical debt that had been characterized as delinquent, charged off, or in collection which, from the date of payment or settlement, antedates the report by more than 45 days.

Date: 2013-04-26
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Consumer Finance)
Subject: Finance and financial sector
Preserving Access to Manufactured Housing Act of 2013 - Amends the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act to revise the exclusion from the meaning of "mortgage originator" of any employee of a retailer of manufactured homes who does not for compensation or gain take residential mortgage loan applications, for compensation or gain offer or negotiate terms of a residential mortgage loan, or advise a consumer on loan terms (including rates, fees, and other costs).

Excludes from the meaning of "mortgage originator," instead, any retailer of manufactured or modular homes or its employees unless the retailer or its employees receive compensation or gain for engaging in certain activities in excess of any compensation or gain received in a comparable cash transaction.

Amends the Truth in Lending Act to revise the definition of "high cost mortgage."

Date: 2013-04-26
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Consumer Finance)
Subject: Housing and community development
(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary of that version is repeated here.) Reverse Mortgage Stabilization Act of 2013 - Amends the National Housing Act, with respect to mortgage insurance for home equity conversion mortgages (reverse mortgages) of elderly homeowners, to authorize the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to establish, by notice or mortgagee letter, any additional or alternative requirements determined necessary to improve the fiscal safety and soundness of the reverse mortgage program. Declares that such requirements shall take effect upon issuance.

Date: 2013-05-23
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Consumer Finance)
Subject: Housing and community development
Accuracy in Reporting Medical Debt Act of 2013 - Amends the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act to prohibit debt collectors, during a 120-day period, from reporting a medical debt (arising from the receipt of medical services, products, or devices) to any consumer reporting agency if the consumer, within a specified timeframe, disputes the validity of such debt through a written statement that the consumer is: (1) continuing to communicate with an insurance company to determine coverage for the debt, (2) disputing the amount or existence of the debt, or (3) awaiting a determination on an application for financial assistance when the consumer provides evidence of such application.

Prohibits this Act from having any effect on when a debt collector may engage in activities to collect or attempt to collect any debt owed or due or asserted to be owed.

Date: 2013-05-24
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Consumer Finance)
Subject: Finance and financial sector
Right to Lend Act of 2013 - Repeals provisions of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, as amended by Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, that require financial institutions to: (1) inquire whether businesses applying for credit for a women-owned, minority-owned, or small business are such a business; and (2) submit annually to the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, in a manner to be made available to the public, a record of the responses to such inquiry, including census tract information and disclosures as to the race, sex, and ethnicity of the principal owners of such businesses.

Date: 2013-06-11
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Consumer Finance)
Subject: Finance and financial sector
Qualified Mortgage Loan Originator Transitional Authority Act of 2013 - Amends the S.A.F.E. Mortgage Licensing Act of 2008 with respect to the prohibition against an individual's engaging in the business of a loan originator without first obtaining (and maintaining annually) a registration as a registered loan originator or a license and registration as a state-licensed loan originator, as well as obtaining a unique identifier.

Authorizes certain individuals who are qualified registered loan originators under the Truth in Lending Act to act as a loan originator, during a 90-day period following submission of background check materials, under the supervision of a state-licensed firm that engages in loan origination. Terminates the individual's authority to act as a loan originator upon the end of such 90-day period.

Date: 2013-06-14
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Consumer Finance)
Subject: Housing and community development
Small Business Credit Card Act of 2013 - Amends the Truth in Lending Act to cover any qualified small business as a consumer with respect to a credit card account under an open end credit plan (thereby extending credit card protections under such Act to small businesses).

Defines "qualified small business" under the Act as any business concern having 50 or fewer employees, whether or not: (1) the credit card account is in the name of an individual or a business entity, and (2) any credit transaction involving such account is for business or personal purposes.

Permits a qualified small business to elect to opt out of coverage by the Act.

Requires certain creditor disclosures before opening any account under an open end consumer credit plan for a qualified small business.

Prohibits a creditor from: (1) discriminating against any business concern having 50 or fewer employees in connection with any credit card account under an open end credit plan; or (2) requiring any qualified small business to make an opt-out election as a condition for opening a credit card account, or for providing more advantageous terms for such an account.

Date: 2013-06-18
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Consumer Finance)
Subject: Finance and financial sector
Regulation of Mortgage Servicing Act of 2013 - Requires a mortgage servicer to assign one case manager to each borrower that seeks a mortgage loan modification or an alternative to foreclosure.

Requires the case manager to: (1) manage the communication between the servicer and the borrower, and (2) make decisions about the borrower's eligibility for a loan modification or an alternative to foreclosure.

Prohibits a servicer from initiating a covered foreclosure action against a borrower unless the servicer has performed specified tasks related to offering the borrower, if eligible, a loan modification or an alternative to foreclosure.

Requires a servicer to suspend a covered foreclosure action initiated before the enactment of this Act until such tasks have been performed.

Prohibits a servicer, during the suspension period, from: (1) sending the borrower a notice of foreclosure, (2) conducting or scheduling a sale of the real property securing the mortgage, or (3) causing final judgment to be entered against the borrower.

Prescribes requirements a servicer must meet in order to be deemed to have made a reasonable effort to obtain necessary information to determine a borrower's eligibility for a loan modification or an alternative to foreclosure.

Requires a servicer, before notifying a borrower of his or her ineligibility for a loan modification or an alternative to foreclosure, to obtain the services of an independent reviewer to review the borrower's file and determine whether or not the borrower is eligible.

Makes a violation of this Act a bar to a covered foreclosure action. Allows a servicer in compliance with this Act, however, to bring or proceed with a foreclosure action, regardless of any prior violation.

Makes any servicer that fails to comply with any requirement of this Act liable to a borrower in the same manner that a creditor who fails to comply with any requirement is liable to a person.

Date: 2013-06-26
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Consumer Finance)
Subject: Housing and community development
Ending Taxpayer Subsidies for Yachts Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to deny a tax deduction for interest paid on a mortgage for a second residence of a taxpayer if that residence is a boat.

Date: 2013-06-27
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Consumer Finance)
Subject: Taxation
Right to Rent Act of 2013 - Grants eligible mortgagors subject to foreclosure proceedings the right to continue to occupy foreclosed properties subject to the payment of fair market rent for a period of five years that begins upon the commencement of occupancy of such property.

Instructs the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to: (1) monitor compliance with this Act, (2) provide assistance to eligible mortgagors in exercising their rights under this Act, and (3) conduct outreach activities to inform eligible mortgagors of this Act.

Date: 2013-06-28
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Consumer Finance)
Subject: Housing and community development
(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary of that version is repeated here.) Amends the Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act to exempt from certain registration and disclosure requirements the sale or lease of a condominium unit not already exempt from coverage under such Act.

Date: 2013-06-28
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Consumer Finance)
Subject: Housing and community development
Portfolio Lending and Mortgage Access Act - Amends the Truth in Lending Act with respect to the permission that a creditor may presume that a residential mortgage loan has met the requirement that, at the time the loan is consummated, the consumer has a reasonable ability to repay it, if the loan is a qualified mortgage.

Treats as a qualified mortgage any residential mortgage loan made by a creditor so long as it appears on the creditor's balance sheet (held on portfolio).

Date: 2013-07-11
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Consumer Finance)
Subject: Finance and financial sector
Mortgage Forgiveness Tax Relief Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend through 2015 the exclusion from gross income of income attributable to the discharge of indebtedness on a principal residence.

Date: 2013-07-23
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Consumer Finance)
Subject: Taxation
FHA In-Person Servicing Improvement Act of 2013 - Directs the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to carry out a pilot program to use authority under the National Housing Act to pay insurance benefits to compensate a mortgagee for any costs of taking loss mitigation actions providing an alternative to foreclosure of a mortgage in default or facing imminent default.

Requires the Secretary to make payments to a qualified entity or entities to compensate for their costs of making in-person contact with mortgagors whose payments under covered mortgages are more than 60 days past due.

Date: 2013-07-24
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Consumer Finance)
Subject: Housing and community development
FHA Alternative Credit Pilot Program Reauthorization Act of 2013 - Amends the National Housing Act to extend from five to 10 years the pilot program to establish for mortgagees an automated process for providing alternative credit rating information on mortgagors and prospective mortgagors under mortgages on 1- to 4-family residences who have insufficient credit histories for determining their creditworthiness.

Date: 2013-07-24
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Consumer Finance)
Subject: Housing and community development
Fair Debt Collection Practices Technical Clarification Act of 2013 - Amends the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act to exclude from the definition of "debt collector" any law firm or licensed attorney: (1) serving, filing, or conveying formal legal pleadings, discovery requests, or other documents pursuant to the applicable rules of civil procedure; or (2) communicating in, or at the direction of, a court of law or in depositions or settlement conferences, in connection with a pending legal action to collect a debt on behalf of a client.

Date: 2013-07-31
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Consumer Finance)
Subject: Finance and financial sector
Mortgage Forgiveness Tax Relief Act of 2013 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend through 2014 the exclusion from gross income of income attributable to the discharge of indebtedness on a principal residence.

Date: 2013-08-02
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Consumer Finance)
Subject: Taxation
Medicare Common Access Card Act of 2013 - Establishes a pilot program under title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act in order to utilize smart card technology for Medicare beneficiary and provider identification cards.

Date: 2013-08-02
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Consumer Finance)
Subject: Health
Rebuilding Equity Act of 2013 - Directs the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) (government sponsored enterprises or GSEs) to each establish a voluntary program for eligible borrowers under which the GSE shall pay $1,000 toward the closing costs associated with applying for and receiving the refinancing when the borrower agrees to refinance into a fully amoritizing loan with a term not longer than 20 years.

Prohibits the amount of the closing costs that each GSE pays under the program during the 12 months following enactment of this Act from varying based on the term of the mortgage that the borrower agrees to refinance into.

 Requires the Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, for each of the next two 12-month periods, to: (1) adjust the amount of the portion of the closing costs that each GSE will pay in accordance with specified requirements.

Makes eligible for the program borrowers: (1) who qualify for the Home Affordable Refinance Program carried out by the GSEs, (2) whose subject property has a loan-to-value ratio of at least 105%, and (3) who refinances from a loan with an original 30-year term to a loan with a term of 20 years or less.

Date: 2013-08-02
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Consumer Finance)
Subject: Housing and community development
Freedom and Mobility in Consumer Banking Act - Amends the Truth in Savings Act to prohibit depository institutions from: (1) prohibiting a consumer from closing a covered account (a checking, savings, or any other account that the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection [CFPB] may include), regardless of whether the balance is positive, zero, or negative; (2) charging any fee to close such account; or (3) reopening such an account to apply subsequent debits after a consumer has requested the account to be closed, unless the consumer requests that the account be reopened.

Requires depository institutions to provide consumers with a description of the policies and procedures in place to close such accounts at the time the account is opened, upon request, and on the websites of such institutions.

Directs the CFPB to prescribe regulations relating to the closure of such accounts, including: (1) allowing consumers to receive available funds from a closed account in the form of a cashier's check, electronic funds transfer, or any other means offered by the institution or determined appropriate by the CFPB; (2) requiring depository institutions to provide consumers with certain information regarding any preauthorized transactions or direct deposits associated with an account before it is closed; (3) prohibiting a depository institution from reporting adverse information regarding such account to any consumer reporting agency if, at the time the account is closed, the account has a negative balance resulting solely from any fee assessed by the depository institution; and (4) establishing the terms under which a depository institution may report to a consumer reporting agency that an account had a negative closing balance, provided that the institution notifies the consumer and provides a reasonable period for repayment of the balance.

Directs the Comptroller General (GAO) to report to Congress and the CFPB regarding additional barriers that could limit the ability of a consumer to close a covered account. Requires the CFPB, after receiving such report, to determine whether regulations should be issued to remove such barriers.

Date: 2013-09-19
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Consumer Finance)
Subject: Finance and financial sector
(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary of that version is repeated here, with an updated short title.)

Mortgage Choice Act of 2014 - (Sec. 2) Amends the Truth in Lending Act with respect to requirements for disclosure to a consumer of points and fees information about a consumer credit transaction, secured by the consumer's principal dwelling, but which is not a residential mortgage transaction, a reverse mortgage transaction, or a transaction under an open end credit plan, when the total points and fees the consumer must pay at or before closing will exceed 8% of the total loan amount or $400, whichever is greater. (Such consumer credit transactions might include an equity credit line to which consumer purchases or leases may be charged.)

Excludes from the computation of such points and fees any escrow for future payment of insurance.

Modifies the criteria for exclusion from the computation of points and fees of certain reasonable charges elsewhere exempted from the computation of the finance charge in extensions of credit secured by an interest in real property. Excludes from points and fees any such reasonable charges even though a creditor receives compensation, but only in so far as the creditor or its affiliate retains the compensation as a result of their participation in an affiliated business arrangement.

(An "affiliated business arrangement" is one in which: (1) a person who is in a position to refer business incident to or a part of a real estate settlement service involving a federally related mortgage loan, or an associate of such person, has either an affiliate relationship with or a direct or beneficial ownership interest of more than 1% in a provider of settlement services; and (2) either of such persons directly or indirectly refers such business to that provider or affirmatively influences the provider's selection.)

Revises the additional requirement that such a reasonable charge be paid to a third party unaffiliated with the creditor. Requires the charge to be: (1) a bona fide third party charge not retained by the mortgage originator, creditor, or an affiliate; or (2) a fee or premium for title examination, title insurance, or similar purposes.

Modifies the conditions under which federal departments and agencies may exempt refinancings under a streamlined refinancing from an income verification requirement that, at the time a refinancing is consummated, the consumer has a reasonable ability to repay the loan and all applicable taxes, insurance, and assessments. Repeals the exception for bona fide third party charges not retained by the mortgage originator, creditor, or an affiliate from the requirement that total points and fees not exceed 3% of the total new loan amount. (Thus subjects such charges to the same 3% ceiling.)

Date: 2013-09-28
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Consumer Finance)
Subject: Housing and community development
Fair Debt Collection Improvement Act - Amends the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act to prohibit a debt collector from bringing, or threatening to bring, legal action against any consumer on a debt in which the statute of limitations has expired.

Requires a debt collector, in connection with the collection of debt in which the statute of limitations has expired, to disclose to the consumer that: (1) the debt has been transferred to the debt collector, (2) the creditor no longer holds the debt, (3) the debt collector may not bring legal action against the consumer to collect the debt because the statute of limitations has expired, and (4) any payment by the consumer towards the debt may cause the statute of limitations to reset.

Date: 2013-10-30
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Consumer Finance)
Subject: Finance and financial sector
Protecting Habitat Homeownership Act - Amends the Truth in Lending Act and the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act of 1974 to exempt residential mortgage loans originated by non-profit low-income housing providers from certain minimum loan standards as well as appraisal, servicing, and billing requirements.

Defines "non-profit low-income housing provider" as a tax-exempt charitable organization that does not engage in the business of a loan originator or mortgage broker but does make residential mortgage loans: (1) to promote or facilitate homeownership for poor or low-income, disabled, or other disadvantaged persons or families; and (2) at interest rates lower than the bank prime loan rate; or (3) that are, after adjusting for inflation, no-interest loans or loans with interest rates significantly below the interest rates for loans for purchase of single-family housing generally available in the market. Prescribes additional requirements.

Date: 2013-11-19
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Consumer Finance)
Subject: Housing and community development
Permanently Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act of 2013 - Amends the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act of 2009 to repeal its sunset date December 31, 2012 (thus making the Act permanent).

Establishes a private right of action to enforce compliance with such Act.

Date: 2013-11-20
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Consumer Finance)
Subject: Housing and community development
Freddie Mac REMIC Reform Act of 2013 - Amends the Housing and Community Development Act of 1992 with respect to the exercise of options on mortgage-backed securities by the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) or, during the term of any conservatorship or receivership of Freddie Mac, the Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA).

Directs Freddie Mac (or FHFA as its conservator or receiver) to exercise any option on a mortgage-backed security with a clean-up call option Freddie Mac has issued if the residual holder of the security is willing to share at least 50% of any excess proceeds from the exercise of the option with FHFA as conservator or receiver, if such proceeds benefit the taxpayers of the United States.

(A clean-up call option allows a transferor of assets, in this case mortgage assets, to buy them back after the outstanding asset values have been reduced substantially.)

Defines mortgage-backed security as debt obligations issued in the form of participation certificates, collateralized mortgage obligations, mortgage-backed commercial paper, and real estate mortgage investment conduits.

Defines mortgage-backed security with a clean-up call option as any mortgage-backed security under which there is an option or right to redeem all remaining classes of the security whenever the aggregate remaining principal of the mortgage would be less than the optional redemption or clean-up call percentage.

Directs the Director to prohibit Freddie Mac and the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) from issuing any mortgage-backed security with a clean-up call option.

Directs the Director to ensure that any excess proceeds received as a result of the exercise of any clean-up call options be used only to reduce the budget deficit of the federal government.

Date: 2013-12-12
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Consumer Finance)
Subject: Housing and community development
Homeowners Debt Relief Extension Act of 2014 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) extend through 2015 the exclusion from gross income of imputed income from the discharge of indebtedness with respect to a principal residence; and (2) exclude from the definition of "domestic production gross receipts" for purposes of the tax deduction for income attributable to domestic production activities, gross receipts of a major integrated oil company (i.e., a company which has an average daily worldwide production of crude oil of at least 500,000 barrels for the taxable year and gross receipts in excess of $1 billion for its last taxable year ending during 2005) from the production, transportation, or distribution of oil, natural gas, or any primary product thereof.

Date: 2014-01-13
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Consumer Finance)
Subject: Taxation
Pay Back the Taxpayers Act of 2014 - Prohibits the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) (government sponsored enterprises or GSEs), during the term of any conservatorship or receivership, from making any contribution or transfer to, or allocating or setting aside any amounts for, the Housing Trust Fund or the Capital Magnet Fund.

Requires any amounts paid or repaid to the Secretary of the Treasury by a GSE in any form, during any conservatorship or receivership of the GSE, to be covered into the General Fund of the Treasury and used only for reducing the federal budget deficit.

Date: 2014-01-16
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Consumer Finance)
Subject: Housing and community development
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend through 2014 the tax deduction for mortgage insurance premiums.

Date: 2014-01-28
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Consumer Finance)
Subject: Taxation
Community Bank Mortgage Servicing Asset Capital Requirements Study Act of 2014 - Directs the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) (federal banking agencies) to study jointly the appropriate capital requirements for mortgage servicing assets for any banking institution other than an institution identified by the Financial Stability Board as a global systemically important bank.

Prohibits regulations to implement the Global Regulatory Framework for More Resilient Banks and Banking Systems issued by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision on December 16, 2010, as revised on June 1, 2011, (Basel III capital requirements) with respect to mortgage servicing assets for nonsystemic banking institutions from taking effect until six months after the report on the study is issued to Congress.

Date: 2014-02-11
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Consumer Finance)
Subject: Finance and financial sector
Homeowner Tax Fairness Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) extend through 2016 the exclusion from gross income of income attributable to the discharge of indebtedness on a principal residence, (2) extend through 2015 the tax deduction for mortgage insurance premiums, (3) exclude from gross income any National Mortgage Settlement amount, and (4) deny a tax deduction for any National Mortgage Settlement amount that was paid in exchange for a full release of the potential civil claims of the United States under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. .

Defines "National Mortgage Settlement amount" as any amount received pursuant to the settlement in a legal action against Bank of America Corporation filed in U.S. District Court on March 12, 2012, which is: (1) a payment for transitional assistance; (2) a payment from the Borrower Payment Fund under the National Mortgage Settlement to a borrower whose home was finally sold or taken in foreclosure after December 31, 2007, and before January 1, 2014; or (3) a payment received as a result of a foreclosure or excess charge of interest that the Department of Justice (DOJ) has determined was not in compliance with the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act.

Date: 2014-02-14
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Consumer Finance)
Subject: Taxation
Empowering States' Rights To Protect Consumers Act of 2014 - Amends the Truth In Lending Act to limit the annual percentage rate (APR) applicable to any consumer credit transaction (other than a residential mortgage transaction), including any associated fees, to the maximum rate permitted by the laws of the state in which the consumer resides.

Date: 2014-03-06
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Consumer Finance)
Subject: Finance and financial sector
Stabilizing FHA Loan Limit Calculations Act of 2014 - Amends the National Housing Act, with respect to the mortgage insurance eligibility of a 1-family or a 2-, 3-, or 4-family residence, to revise the formula for determining the median house price in the larger formula for determining the principal obligation of a mortgage.

Declares that, for 2014 and each succeeding year, the median house price for any size residence for an area shall be considered to be the greatest median house price for such size residence for that area used by the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to determine the dollar amount limitation on the principal obligation for 2013, or for any succeeding year before the assignment of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) case number for the mortgage involved.

Allows the Secretary, however, to increase the maximum dollar limitation on the principal obligation of an eligible mortgage otherwise in effect for a particular size or sizes of residence in any geographic area smaller than an area for which dollar amount limitations are ordinarily determined, if a higher maximum dollar amount limitation is warranted by higher median home prices in that smaller area.

Date: 2014-03-12
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Consumer Finance)
Subject: Housing and community development
Stop Foreclosures Due to Congressional Dysfunction Act of 2014 - Requires the Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) to prohibit mortgagees of certain eligible mortgages from initiating a foreclosure during a specified six-month moratorium with respect to any of those mortgages owned, held, securitized, or guaranteed by the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) or the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac). Tolls the term of such mortgages during the moratorium, and requires deferral of any principal and interest payments due.

Qualifies for this mortatorium only Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac mortgages on a 1- to 4-family residence that is the principal residence of a mortgagor who: (1) was current on principal, interest, tax, and insurance payments at the start of the moratorium; (2) has received unemployment compensation during a certain period but exhausted all rights to it; and (3) as of the beginning of the moratorium has a ratio of debt to income on the mortgage greater than 40%.

Date: 2014-03-14
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Consumer Finance)
Subject: Housing and community development
Foreclosure Fairness Act of 2014 - Prohibits a court, in the case of any federally related mortgage loan made after enactment of this Act, from entering a deficiency judgment requiring the mortgagor to pay any balance on the mortgage loan after a foreclosure sale of the mortgaged property.

Date: 2014-03-27
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Consumer Finance)
Subject: Housing and community development
Data Accountability and Trust Act - Requires the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to promulgate regulations requiring each person engaged in interstate commerce that owns or possesses data containing personal information to establish specified security policies and procedures to treat and protect such information.

Requires the regulations to include methods for disposing of both electronic and nonelectronic data.

Requires information brokers to submit their security policies to the FTC in conjunction with a notification of a security breach notification or on FTC request. Authorizes the FTC to conduct information security practices audits of brokers who have had a security breach or require such brokers to conduct independent audits.

Requires information brokers to: (1) establish procedures to verify the accuracy of information that identifies individuals, (2) provide to individuals whose personal information it maintains a means to review it, (3) place a conspicuous notice on the Internet instructing individuals how to request access to such information, and (4) correct inaccurate information.

Directs the FTC to require information brokers to establish measures which facilitate the auditing or retracing of access to, or transmissions of, any data containing personal information.

Makes it unlawful for information brokers to obtain or disclose personal information by false pretenses (pretexting).

Requires such person to notify the FTC and affected individuals of information security breaches. Sets forth requirements concerning such notification, including method of notification requirements and timeliness requirements. Allows an exemption from notification requirements if such person determines that there is no reasonable risk of identity theft, fraud, or other unlawful conduct.

Preempts state information security laws.

Date: 2014-04-04
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Consumer Finance)
Subject: Commerce
Housing Financial Literacy Act of 2014 - Amends the National Housing Act to revise the single insurance premium payment for a mortgage (secured by a one- to four-family dwelling that is an obligation of the Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund) of a first-time homebuyer who completes a program of counseling on the responsibilities and financial management involved in homeownership that is approved by the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

Repeals the current maximum premium payment of 2.75% of the amount of the mortgage's original insured principal obligation.

Sets the single mortgage insurance premium payment at 25 basis points lower than the premium payment amount otherwise established.

Date: 2014-04-10
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Consumer Finance)
Subject: Housing and community development
Stop Punishing Innocent Taxpayers Act - Prohibits any administrative offset of a claim asserted by the federal government that has been outstanding for more than 10 years.

Date: 2014-04-28
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Consumer Finance)
Subject: Government operations and politics
Protecting Students From Automatic Default Act of 2014 - Amends the Truth in Lending Act to require a private educational lender to notify a borrower immediately if, upon receiving notification of the death or bankruptcy of a cosigner jointly liable for the private education loan, the lender deems the borrower to be in default, changes the terms of the loan, or accelerates the loan's repayment terms.

Requires a private educational lender to give a borrower at least 90 days after such a notification to identify a new cosigner for that loan. Retains the lender's right to renegotiate loan terms based on the creditworthiness of the new cosigner.

Date: 2014-04-29
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Consumer Finance)
Subject: Education
Student Debt Repayment Fairness Act of 2014 - Amends the Truth in Lending Act to prohibit a private educational lender from accelerating the repayment terms of the outstanding obligation of a borrower in good standing with respect to a particular private education loan if a cosigner jointly liable on the loan is unable to fulfill any obligations with respect to it by reason of death or disability.

Date: 2014-04-29
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Consumer Finance)
Subject: Education
Community Institution Mortgage Relief Act of 2014 - Amends the Truth in Lending Act (TILA) to require the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System to exempt from certain escrow or impound requirements a loan secured by a first lien on a consumer's principal dwelling if the loan is held by a creditor with assets of $10 billion or less.

Amends the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act of 1974 to direct the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to provide either exemptions or adjustments from the mortgage loan servicing and escrow account administration requirements of the Act for servicers that annually service 20,000 or fewer mortgage loans.

Date: 2014-04-30
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Consumer Finance)
Subject: Housing and community development
Limiting Investor and Homeowner Loss in Foreclosure Act of 2014 - Authorizes a bankruptcy court to establish a loss mitigation program for the negotiation of consensual alternatives to avoid foreclosure between an individual debtor and the holder of a claim secured by a security interest in the debtor's principal residence.

Date: 2014-05-07
Topic: Domestic Commerce (Consumer Finance)
Subject: Finance and financial sector