What are high-cost mortgage loans?
High-cost mortgage loans have interest rates and fees above certain thresholds set by the Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act (HOEPA). This makes them prone to predatory acts. Therefore, more safeguards apply to them.
High-Cost versus High-Priced Loans
High-Cost Loans: These are considered as such because they trigger additional rules due to high rates or fees.
High-Priced Loans: These types of mortgages may have slightly higher-than-average interest rates but still fall outside the category of being regulated under high-cost loan rules.
High-Cost Loan Protections
Mandatory Counseling: Borrowers must receive counseling before taking out a high-cost mortgage loan.
Restrictions on fees: Lenders cannot charge excessive amounts for services related to these loans, like appraisals or credit reports.
Limitations on Prepayment Penalties: There are limits on how much money can be charged if someone wants to pay off their debt early. This is done so that people who want to refinance their houses or sell them do not get discouraged by having huge sums deducted from what they owe just because they did not wait until the end of an agreed-upon period before settling their debts, which were designed in such a way as to make it difficult for borrowers with limited resources repayments within the specified time frame. Usually, it is five years, ten years, or so on. It depends on the agreement between the lender and borrower).
Causes For Struggles With Mortgage Loan Originators
The complexity of the high-cost loan rules makes it hard for mortgage brokers to understand them fully. They may inadvertently breach these regulations despite their best efforts simply due to the labyrinthine nature of such laws.
Relationship Between High-Cost Lending & Predatory Lending
While any form of lending beyond HOEPA thresholds is deemed high-cost borrowing, only financial transactions characterized by the exploitation of clients can fall under predatory lending. Thus, high-priced credit involves charging exorbitant rates or fees but does not necessarily imply unfair treatment of customers. They are making people classify all expensive loans as predatory.
What is a high-priced loan?
A high-priced mortgage loan has an APR that exceeds the average prime offer rate by a certain percentage point but is less than what would qualify it as costly under HOEPA standards.
High-Cost Requirements
Mandatory Counseling: Borrowers must receive counseling before they can take out this kind of mortgage
Loan terms and cost disclosure: The lender should provide clear information about all aspects such as duration of payment, interest rate charged, among others
Restrictions on specific fees or charges, such as appraisal fees, cannot exceed 500 dollars.