Survey Finds Lenders Still Uncertain About Dodd-Frank

""Uncertainty"" is a term that has plagued the lending industry for some time. Since the introduction of Dodd-Frank three years ago, uncertainty about the future of industry regulation has been a source of concern among close to half of lenders, according to ""QuestSoft,"":http://www.questsoft.com/ a Laguna Hills, California-based software provider.

[IMAGE]

QuestSoft's fifth annual compliance survey reveals at least 49 percent of lenders have ranked Dodd-Frank-related uncertainty as a high concern for the past three years.

""Dodd-Frank changes are a long train running and will directly affect everyone involved in the mortgage lending industry from now up until January 2014 implementation when a sense of certainty with hopefully [COLUMN_BREAK]

be reestablished,"" said Leonard Ryan, president of QuestSoft.

This year's survey also revealed concerns surrounding new and developing rules from the ""Consumer Financial Protection Bureau"":http://www.consumerfinance.gov/ (CFPB)--most notably the Truth in Lending Disclosure and Good Faith Estimate disclosure.

These two rules are of high concern for 58.8 percent of lenders surveyed and were labeled a ""medium concern"" among another 25.8 percent of lenders.

Pending rules from the CFPB also rank high with 52.7 percent of lenders expressing high concern in this area. An additional 28 percent labeled other CFPB rules as a ""medium concern.""

""Lenders have a justified reason to be concerned when facing a multitude of regulations that could jeopardize compliance,"" Ryan said.

He gave the CFPB credit for working with industry leaders but added that ""reforms and requirements can lead to stress and unforeseen consequences ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô especially if lenders are kept in the dark until the implementation date.""

Other triggers for unease among lenders include enhanced scrutiny of the Community Reinvestment Act, state consumer lending laws, and the National Mortgage Licensing System Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act.