Texas Home Equity

In a decision filed August 15, 2019, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit certified a question to the Supreme Court of Texas, the answer to which may significantly impact a lender’s ability to mitigate its losses on a constitutionally defective home equity loan. The case of Zepeda v. Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, 2019 WL 3820019 …

This memorandum will provide an overview of home equity lending embodied in Article XVI, Section 50, of the Texas Constitution and will also discuss some of the issues lenders face. The full text of Section 50, current to date, is attached to this memorandum (for ease of reference, the home equity and HELOC provisions are highlighted in bold typeface). All references to “sections,” “subsections,” and “parts” in this memorandum refer to the various provisions of Section 50, unless otherwise stated.

In the November 18, 2016, issue of the Texas Register (41 TexReg 9106), the Finance Commission of Texas and the Texas Credit Union Commission (the “Commissions”) jointly adopted amendments to §§153.5, 153.8, 153.13, 153.14 and 153.17 of the Home Equity Lending Interpretations. These amendments are effective as of November 24, 2016. The Commissions adopted the amendments without change to the proposed text published in the July 22, 2016, issue of the Texas Register.

In the November 7, 2016, Federal Register (81 FR 78063, click here) the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Farm Credit Administration (FCA), and the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) jointly issued a proposed rule to amend their regulations regarding loans in areas having special flood hazards to implement the private flood insurance provisions of the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012 (Biggert-Waters Act). Specifically, the proposed rule would require regulated lending institutions to accept policies that meet the statutory definition of private flood insurance in the Biggert-Waters Act and permit regulated lending institutions to accept flood insurance provided by private insurers that does not meet the statutory definition of private flood insurance on a discretionary basis, subject to certain restrictions.

On May 20, 2016, the Texas Supreme Court issued opinions in two noteworthy cases concerning home equity lending in Texas. The Wood case concerns whether a statute of limitations applies to actions to quiet title for constitutionally noncompliant 50(a)(6) home equity liens, and the Garofolo case concerns in what manner and under what circumstances a forfeiture action can be brought for a lender’s failure to perform its requirements under 50(a)(6).