On January 26, 2011, the Federal Reserve Board issued a "Guide" - a "small entity compliance guide" required under Section 212 of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996 (SBREFA), as amended.
I have placed "Guide" in quotes because I haven't seen such a perfunctory and virtually useless issuance from the FRB in quite a long time in a matter of such consequence!
It seems to me that the "Guide" is more of a reaction to the January 13, 2011 letter from the SBA's Office of Advocacy, which expressed concern, among other things, that the "the Federal Reserve has not analyzed properly the full economic impact of the proposal on small entities as required by the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA)."
If this is meant to be a response to that letter, and to comply with the SBREFA, it falls far short of the mark; and, in any event, it surely doesn't seem to fulfill the statutory requirements carefully reasoned in the SBA's letter.
Much of the FRB "Guide" is no more than a regurgitation of the "already known" aspects of the Regulation Z amendments affecting loan officer compensation. I doubt our clients will get much help from this document!
The SBA's letter recommended that the Board publish a compliance guide in the immediate future and extend the time for small entities to comply - now scheduled for April 1, 2011 - to reflect the delay in the availability of the guide.
To quote directly from the SBA letter:
"Small entities have indicated that the requirements of some of these changes are unclear and confusing. They are concerned that the lack of clarity may lead to problems in compliance.
Advocacy reviewed the Board's website. Advocacy commends the Board for having a SBREFA compliance guide page on its website. However, although there are compliance guides for Regulations C, D, E, F, H, I, J, L, M, O, P, R, V, X, AA, BB, CC, DD, and GG, Advocacy was unable to find a compliance guide for Regulation Z."
Nevertheless, at this time it does not appear that a delay is being seriously considered.
In reviewing our Library and Archives, it appears that we have well over 300 documents on the subject of loan officer compensation. So I decided to open a new section in the Library devoted to COMPENSATION - MLOs. Over time, it will receive more and more relevant documents. Check back or bookmark the page, if you want to keep track of this controversial subject.
At this time, I am completing an article that will be published in the March 2011 edition of National Mortgage Professional Magazine, the country's premier magazine of the mortgage industry. The article will cover, comprehensively and practically, the salient features of loan officer compensation that will become effective on April 1, 2011.
Moreover, my article will provide clear guidelines to assist mortgage loan originators in understanding and applying compensation requirements.
I will notify you when it is published and make it available to you, courtesy of the magazine.
In the meantime, we will watch the situation closely and provide updates, where needed.
Best wishes,
Jonathan
