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The CFPB on Thursday issued a final rule aimed to help mortgage servicers communicate with certain borrowers facing bankruptcy. NAFCU had recently asked the bureau to repeal its 2016 amendments to its 2013 mortgage servicer rule due to the conflicts it presents with current bankruptcy law.

This final rule gives mortgage servicers more leeway in providing statements to consumers entering or exiting bankruptcy, as required by the CFPB's 2016 mortgage servicing amendments. Under the initial rulemaking, mortgage servicers were required to send monthly billing statements to consumers in active bankruptcy cases and certain bankruptcy cases in which the debtor's personal liability was previously discharged. NAFCU argued that this conflicted with well-settled bankruptcy law.

More specifically, the updated final rule provides a single-statement exemption for mortgage servicers to make the transition, "superseding the single-billing-cycle exemption included in the 2016 rule," the CFPB explained.

The effective date for the rule, April 19, 2018, is unchanged. NAFCU will issue a Final Regulation on this rule.