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Inside Mortgage Finance

April 14, 2016

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Fannie and Freddie Securitized Fewer Private MI Loans In Early 2016 as Purchase-Mortgage Market Stalled

The flow of home loans covered by private mortgage insurance into new Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage-backed securities fell by 11.5 percent during the first quarter of 2016, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis and ranking. That decline mirrored the 11.6 percent drop in purchase-mortgage securitization from the fourth quarter by the two government-sponsored enterprises. A slight uptick in refinance activity partly offset the slide in purchase-mortgage business. Private MIs do...[Includes two data tables] Read More

CFPB Faces Hostile Questions in Dispute with PHH; Appeal to SCOTUS Likely by Whomever Loses the Case

The mortgage industry found some justification to hope for a return to a more traditional interpretation of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, after the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau took some judicial fire during oral arguments early this week in its dispute with PHH Corp. over the company’s captive mortgage reinsurance activity. The crux of the dispute is the bureau’s assertion that PHH violated RESPA and harmed consumers through a mortgage insurance kickback scheme tied to a captive MI company. Virtually all the major mortgage lenders used similar captive reinsurance entities prior to the financial collapse. In the run-up to this week’s oral arguments before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, the justices seemed... Read More

New Disclosures by PHH Cast Doubt on Salability of the Nonbank Mortgage Giant

Over the past two years, PHH Corp. has lost $64 million on its mortgage business and now that Merrill Lynch has given notice that it wants to end some of its private-label contracts with PHH Mortgage, the nonbank’s future is beginning to look cloudier. Moreover, analysts and investors who follow the company wonder whether PHH’s private-label model – the bread and butter of its origination business – is fixable in the modern era of mortgage banking. Meanwhile, all of this is happening at a time when management hopes to sell the company, or at least field offers for some of its key assets, including a $226 billion servicing portfolio. The bad news for PHH started... Read More

CFPB’s Cordray Details Available TRID Cures, Still Provides No Clue on More Formal Guidance

Mortgage originators, securitizers and investors are no closer to getting any additional formal guidance from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau when it comes to industry compliance with the agency’s controversial integrated disclosure rule. The rule, which took effect Oct. 3, 2015, combines the consumer disclosures required under the Truth in Lending Act and the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act. During a hearing late last week before the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, CFPB Director Richard Cordray and Sen. Bob Corker, R-TN, briefly referenced... Read More

Next Up for the Blackstone Group and Finance of America: Non-QM Investing. How Big Can It Get?

Over the past year, The Blackstone Group has been aggressively expanding into many facets of the mortgage business and is now ready to make what might be considered a bold move: investing and originating in residential loans that don’t meet the qualified-mortgage test. But just how big might Blackstone get? That’s hard to say at this point. A source inside the company, who spoke under the condition his name not be used, confirmed... Read More

Wells Fargo Agrees to Pay $1.2 Billion to Resolve Charges Of Improper FHA Lending Practices Over 9-Year Period

Wells Fargo last week reached an agreement to pay $1.2 billion to the federal government to resolve certification and reporting violations in connection with FHA-insured loans. The settlement is the largest recovery for loan-origination violations in FHA history, according to Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro. The April 8 court filing details an agreement in principle, which Wells Fargo announced in February, that resolves not only a pending lawsuit filed by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, but also a number of potential claims dating as far back as 15 years in some cases, according to a statement issued by Wells Fargo. According to the settlement, Wells Fargo “admitted... Read More

GAO Recommends Stronger Oversight of Nonbank Servicers, Suggests Giving FHFA More Authority

With steady growth over the past four years, nonbank mortgage servicers should have more regulatory oversight, according to a recently released study by the U.S. Government Accountability Office. Several agencies, including the Conference of State Bank Supervisors and the Federal Housing Finance Agency, agreed with that recommendation. The share of home mortgages serviced by nonbanks tripled from 2012 to midyear 2015, growing from approximately 6.8 percent to 24.2 percent, the GAO said. The GAO recommended... Read More

Real Estate Agents Prefer Online Platforms Over Lender Sites for Homebuyer Leads

Real estate agents find realty websites more useful in generating homebuyer leads than websites operated by mortgage lenders, according to the results of a new survey conducted by Campbell Surveys and sponsored by Inside Mortgage Finance. “Real estate information available online is causing a fundamental shift in lead sources for homebuyer agents,” said Tom Popik, research director for Campbell Surveys. “Real estate agents prefer online home-buying platforms over mortgage lenders for homebuyer leads.” An agent’s “sphere of influence/personal reputation” remains... Read More

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