IMHA-RVIC Executive Director’s Report from MHI’s Annual Meeting

IMHA Executive Director Mark Bowersox attended the Manufactured Housing Institute's (MHI) Annual Meeting held earlier this week in San Antonio, TX.

More than 100 people attended the event, including representatives from 10 IMHA member companies. While MHI scheduled more than a dozen separate workshops, most discussed the ongoing regulation and legislation that challenges our industry at the national level. The Secure and Fair Mortgage Enforcement (SAFE) Act, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and the Anti-Money Laundering regulations continue to be the hot topics in nearly all meetings. In fact, MHI's Legislative and Regulatory Priorities remain the same going into 2013 as they were in 2012.

MHI is taking a two-tiered approach to SAFE and Dodd-Frank. First, they are promoting legislation (HR 3849 and S 3484) that would amend the existing Dodd-Frank legislation to increase the threshold on triggering a "high cost mortgage" as defined in the Dodd-Frank legislation. This same bill would also amend the SAFE Act to legislatively mandate some of the regulatory opinions currently contained in the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's (CFPB) Proposed Rule on the SAFE Act.

MHI's hope is that this legislation will be passed during the "lame duck" session following the November elections. While several members of Indiana's congressional delegation have agreed to support these initiatives, I encourage all IMHA members to contact your Representative and Senators and urge them to support this legislation.

Secondly, MHI is seeking favorable interpretations of the law from the CFPB, the newly created federal agency responsible for regulating these laws. MHI has retained the services of SNR Denton, a Washington DC law firm specifically to lobby the CFPB on behalf of the manufactured housing industry. The CFPB isn’t expected to release new information before the November election but must distribute final rules by January, 2013. Although the CFPB is expected to review state policies to ensure states are regulating the SAFE Act appropriately, the CFPB has not yet addressed lease-option type contracts. These contracts continue to be a gray area and it’s possible that the CFPB will view these contracts as non-compliant and a way to skirt the law.

MHI staff reported that the CFPB auditors have begun levying fines against lenders, with Capital One and Discover being fined over $200 million each. The CFPB has the authority to regulate non-bank lenders, which includes manufactured housing communities.

Earlier this year we shared information with IMHA members through a variety of sources about the Anti-Money Laundering Regulations that went into effect on August 13 of this year. Many attendees at this week’s meeting had taken advantage of the template MHI created to help retailers develop an anti money laundering policy as part of their overall compliance program. This template was developed by Marc Lifset of McGlinchey-Stafford (MHI's law firm) and can be used at no charge to state association members.

I strongly recommend to anyone selling homes to review the seven questions from the template (see page 9) to see if your business is required to have a written anti-money laundering program, and to take the necessary steps to comply. At this time there is no plan to roll-back, repeal, amend or otherwise exempt manufactured housing from this federal regulation.

Click here to view the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network’s final rule on the Anti-Money Laundering Program and Suspicious Activity Report Filing Requirements for Residential Mortgage Lenders and Originators. Click here to view or download MHI’s AML policy template.

Other notes from the meeting:

The 2013 National Congress and Expo in Las Vegas will be held at the Paris Hotel. The move was made in large part to a much better overnight room rate ($109) at the Paris Hotel.

MHI has retailer resources section on their web site. It includes valuable information on AML, Red Flags, Safe guards and more. I encourage all members to review these resources as a part of your ongoing compliance programs. As you can tell, MHI is working diligently in Washington on behalf of our industry. They have an extremely tough job trying to effect change for our niche industry in the enormous federal government. It is always a privilege to interact with and learn from their staff along with the other state association directors and industry leaders that were at the meeting. ##

Mark Bowersox
Executive Director
Indiana Manufactured Housing Association – Recreational Vehicle Indiana Council
http://www.imharvic.org/