Regulations
Browse articles from all of our Newsletters related to Regulations.
May 18, 2012 - Inside Mortgage Trends
Reg Burden Keeps Industry From Tech Upgrades
Because the mortgage industry is so focused on staying on top of regulatory changes, adopting new technology has taken a back seat, according to a vendor of a cloud-based management tool. “When you’re up to your ankles in alligators, it’s easy to forget your goal is to drain the swamp,” said Brian Coester, CEO of Coester Appraisal Group. This year, the company launched Cloud Control, a web-based management technology that integrates different aspects of the appraisal process – from compliance to social media to real-time data – in a cloud-based system. “There’s a huge backlog in terms of what people...
May 18, 2012 - Inside Mortgage Trends
New Lender Makes 1st Loan After 7 Months
Seven months after launching as a new wholesale and retail mortgage firm with national ambitions, Bexil American Mortgage originated its first loan, highlighting the current barriers to entry in the mortgage industry. The company, founded by industry veteran John Robbins, has obtained 18 state licenses with others pending, as well as approval from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the FHA, Veteran’s Administration and the Department of Agriculture. Although he has started and sold two previous mortgage companies, he said “it’s a significantly different environment. It’s been more challenging...
May 18, 2012 - Inside The GSEs
FHFA Notes Modest Goals For REO-to-Rental Pilot
Investors will be able to bid on Fannie Mae real estate-owned single-family homes intended for rent “in the next few months” but the Federal Housing Finance Agency warns not to expect fire sale prices from its pilot program. FHFA Senior Associate Director for Housing and Regulatory Policy Meg Burns testified last week before a congressional field hearing that the agency is completing its review of investor applications and is on target to complete its first pilot transaction in the next few months. “The application process is comprehensive, rigorous and demanding, requiring exhaustive amounts of information and documentation from the applications and their business partners,” said Burns.
May 18, 2012 - Inside The GSEs
FHFA Sees a Future Role for FHLBanks
The “scalability” of the nation’s 12 Federal Home Loan Banks as well as their demonstrated ability to access global markets could play a significant role in their favor as policymakers ponder the future of the FHLBank System in a post-Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac housing market, the FHLBanks’ chief regulator told bank directors and executives last week. During a speech at the annual Federal Home Loan Banks Directors Conference in Washington, DC, Federal Housing Finance Agency Acting Director Edward DeMarco noted the banks already have strong relationships, including a cooperative ownership structure, with their nearly 8,000 front-line local lenders.
May 18, 2012 - Inside MBS & ABS
A panel of federal regulators told members of the House Financial Services Committee this week that enforcement of securities violations would be greatly hampered if the government was compelled to seek admissions of wrongdoing or liability as a condition of settlement. Committee Chairman Spencer Bachus, R-AL, said the purpose of the hearing was to examine the settlement practices of federal financial regulators, in particular the Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC has come under public scrutiny after a federal judge last fall rejected the terms of an SEC settlement in lieu of trial that...
May 18, 2012 - Inside MBS & ABS
SIFMA Concerned FINRA Proposal Could Harm Market Participant Confidentiality
A proposal from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority to begin disseminating data for agency MBS traded as specified pools could compromise the confidentiality of market participants and discourage them from future participation, according to the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association. The FINRA wants to implement shorter reporting timeframes for MBS-SP transactions (initially two hours, then one hour), as well as real-time dissemination of trade information. Volume information would be capped at $10 million. Trades above that amount would be displayed as “10+.” “Our dealer and...
May 17, 2012 - Inside Mortgage Finance
It will be long before the Department of Housing and Urban Development is done with its list of lenders targeted for indemnification, but a scarier prospect is having the U.S. Attorney’s Office doing the collection, according to compliance experts. The number of defendants seeking legal representation in FHA-related False Claims Act cases, in which the government has taken over from original whistleblowers, has grown. “If the work on our desks is any indication, HUD is way ahead in its enforcement of FHA origination rules and in seeking indemnification, which always increases during presidential....
May 17, 2012 - Inside Mortgage Finance
Industry Views CFPB Pending Rule on L.O. Comp, Points, Fees Through Prism of Flawed Dodd-Frank
Mortgage lending industry representatives are apprehensive about how the underlying economics of originating a mortgage are going to be affected by a proposal expected sometime this summer from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Among the issues the CFPB indicated it will be considering is a requirement that consumers get a lower interest rate when they pay discount points. The bureau is also thinking about requiring lenders to offer consumers a no-discount-point loan option, as well as banning origination charges that vary with the size of the mortgage. The CFPB is also going to look...
May 14, 2012 - Inside Regulatory Strategies
Law firm Davis Polkfs latest progress report on the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act shows that a total of 221 Dodd]Frank rulemaking requirement deadlines (55.5 percent) have come and gone, with 148 (67 percent) having been missed and 73 (33 percent) having been met with finalized rules, as of May 1. Regulators have yet to issue proposals for 21 of the 148 missed rules. gOf the 398 total rulemaking requirements, 108 (27.1 percent) have been met with finalized rules, and rules have been proposed that would meet 146 (36.7 percent) more, the report went...
May 14, 2012 - Inside Regulatory Strategies
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Director Acknowledges There Is Doubt About His Appointment. Richard Cordray, President Obamafs choice as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, acknowledged in a memo to staff earlier this year that there was some doubt about the validity of his recess appointment, Inside Regulatory Strategies has learned. gThere is a chance (a minor chance in my view, though everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion) that the appointment would be invalidated by a court,h Cordray said in a Feb. 6, 2012, gdear colleagueh...
May 14, 2012 - Inside Regulatory Strategies
Kansas. Judge Robert Berger of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Kansas ruled in three decisions late last month that a mortgage naming Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc., as mortgagee is valid and enforceable, upholding MERS’ role as agent for its members. Judge Berger’s rulings in In re Van Nostrand, In re Huerter and In re Wilkinson found that there was no splitting of the mortgage and note because MERS held the mortgage on behalf of the note owner. “The MERS system has been scrutinized and analyzed by other courts, and, provided MERS can produce a complete...
May 14, 2012 - Inside Regulatory Strategies
House GOP Members Press Cordray for CFPB Budget Details
Three Republicans on the House Committee on Financial Services again pressed Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray for additional information regarding the agency’s budget, even though Congress does not control the bureau’s purse strings. The Republicans’ justification in pressing the issue is that the bureau’s budget affects the national debt while that of the other non-appropriated federal banking regulators do not. Noting the rising of the federal government’s budget deficit and the fact that the CFPB is funded by the Federal Reserve, the lawmakers...
May 14, 2012 - Inside Regulatory Strategies
Industry Makes Fresh Push to Change Point, Fee Calculation
Mortgage bankers and brokers are making a fresh push to support H.R. 4323, the Consumer Mortgage Choice Act, legislation that would change the way points and fees are calculated under the Qualified Mortgage definition in the Dodd-Frank Act. Trade groups representing these segments of the industry have made new appeals to their members recently to reach out to their respective lawmakers and garner their support for the legislation. The Consumer Mortgage Choice Act would spell out that affiliate title fees, certain loan originator compensation, and escrow payments are not included...
May 14, 2012 - Inside Regulatory Strategies
Concerns About Dodd-Frank and Federal Preemption Overblown
Industry and legal concerns that enactment of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act made substantial changes to the federal preemption landscape are “much ado about nothing,” according to two legal scholars at the law firm Barnett Sivon & Natter PC in Washington, DC. In a scholarly work scheduled for publication in the Virginia Law and Business Review this fall, the pair addresses the view of some commentators that the Dodd-Frank Act changed the standard used to determine if a state law is preempted. Some have felt that state law is only preempted if the law...
May 14, 2012 - Inside Regulatory Strategies
Borrower Only Needs to Notify Lender of Intent to Rescind
In Gilbert v. Residential Funding LLC, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit became the first federal appellate court to rule that a borrower only needs to send notice of rescission within the three-year period to exercise a valid right to rescind. In this case, the borrowers are appealing a district court’s dismissal of their claim that Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas, as trustee for Residential Accredit Loans, Inc., Residential Funding LLC and GMAC Mortgage LLC, violated various consumer protection laws in connection with a refinance mortgage the borrowers secured...
May 14, 2012 - Inside Regulatory Strategies
Appeals Court Rules Servicer Can Be Sued as a Debt Collector
In Bridge v. Ocwen Federal Bank, FSB, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit recently ruled that a pro se plaintiff stated a Fair Debt Collection Practices Act claim against a mortgage servicer where the mortgage was not actually in default, reversing the district court’s dismissal. The court came to the conclusion that the mortgage servicer and the purchaser of the mortgage came under the scope of the FDCPA because the mortgage servicer treated the mortgage as if it were in default and tried to collect on it as a debt that was in default. In Bridge, the homeowner...
May 14, 2012 - Inside Regulatory Strategies
Top Mortgage Servicer Disputes CFPB Position in FDCPA Lawsuit
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has sided with borrowers in an appeals case being brought under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, Birster v. American Home Mortgage Servicing, Inc., which is currently before the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. The FDCPA prohibits debt collectors from using certain means to collect debts and from engaging in certain conduct in connection with the collection of a debt. In order for a plaintiff to successfully sue under the act, he or so must show two things: that the defendant is in fact a debt collector under the law, and the behavior...
May 14, 2012 - Inside Regulatory Strategies
Industry Challenges CFPB on TILA Case
Three mortgage lending industry groups have challenged the position of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in a key Truth in Lending Act case by asserting that borrowers must file a lawsuit within three years of a mortgage loan’s signing in order to exercise their right of rescission. As far as the industry is concerned, the crux of the dispute in Rosenfield v. HSBC Bank, No. 10-1442, currently before the 10th District Court of Appeals, is whether borrowers who notify lenders of their intent to rescind must also sue their lenders within three years. TILA gives certain...
May 14, 2012 - Inside Regulatory Strategies
CFPB Taking on Origination Points and Fees
Mortgage originator compensation has moved clearly into the crosshairs of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as part of a broader proposed rule expected soon that will also address originator qualifications as well as the paying of discount points and fees. Senior CFPB officials briefed the press last week on their plans, which will be shared in greater detail sometime next week with a group of small businesses related to the mortgage lending industry per the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act. The act requires the bureau to convene a small business panel...
May 11, 2012 - Inside FHA Lending
Genworth Mortgage Insurance has named Martin Klein as acting chief executive officer in the wake of former CEO Michael Frazier’s resignation last week. Klein is and remains the company’s chief financial officer. James Riepe was named nonexecutive chairman of the board. NMI Holdings, Inc., has raised $550 million in a private placement to provide mortgage insurance on loans to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The company is in the process of obtaining approvals from state insurance regulators and the two government-sponsored enterprises. The MI unit will be called ...
May 11, 2012 - Inside FHA Lending
DOJ Announces $202M Settlement with Lenders
Deutsche Bank and its mortgage subsidiary MortgageIT this week agreed to pay $202 million to settle civil claims that they engaged in a decade of misconduct and deception to qualify risky mortgage loans for FHA insurance. The civil fraud lawsuit was brought against the two companies by the Department of Justice as a result of a referral from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Filed in May last year, the government lawsuit sought damages and civil penalties under the False Claims Act. The suit alleges that MortgageIT, which Deutsche Bank acquired in 2007, used its authority as a direct endorsement lender (DEL) to ...
May 11, 2012 - Inside FHA Lending
Independent Lenders Fill Void in MetLife's Wake
Home Equity Conversion Mortgage loans remain widely available, thanks to the independent lenders that rallied to plug the gaps as major players bolted from the reverse mortgage market, an industry executive told lawmakers this week. In testimony during a House subcommittee hearing on FHA regulation of the HECM market, Jeffrey Lewis, CEO of Generation Mortgage Co., said MetLife’s departure from the market and closure of its traditional mortgage-origination business say nothing about the value of the HECM product to consumers. Lewis said MetLife’s decision was a strategic one and had nothing to do with ... (1 chart)
May 11, 2012 - Inside FHA Lending
OIG Plans Audits of Single-Family Components
The Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of the Inspector General will begin internal audits later in 2012 on various aspects of the FHA single-family mortgage insurance program and release results of some that were begun last year. In August, OIG auditors will begin review of the FHA TOTAL (Technology Open to All Lenders) Scorecard to determine whether the automated underwriting system approves loans that otherwise would not be approved under manual underwriting. Auditors will also check whether the scorecard could ...
May 11, 2012 - Inside FHA Lending
Ginnie Mae Requires New SF Data Disclosures
Ginnie Mae has announced new data disclosures effective Sept. 1, but investors say it is information they do not need. These include indicators identifying first-time homebuyers, type of third-party originator, and the upfront and annual mortgage insurance premiums. The new disclosures will provide greater transparency on the collateral that backs Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities, the agency explained in its latest guidance to program participants. The move also aligns Ginnie Mae’s data disclosures with the industry, it added. Issuers that are unable initially to provide the data will ...
May 11, 2012 - Inside FHA Lending
FHA to Filter Out Unsuitable HECM Borrowers
The FHA and the reverse mortgage industry are working on guidelines that would help lenders in the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage program identify unsuitable borrowers. Financial assessment guidelines that are currently in development would limit the pool of HECM applicants to those who can afford to meet the program’s financial obligations in a timely manner, said Jeffrey Lewis, chairman and chief executive officer of Generation Mortgage in Atlanta. HECM loans account for 90 percent of all reverse mortgages originated in the U.S. Loan volume had contracted in the wake of the financial crisis, down ...
May 11, 2012 - Inside FHA Lending
Lenders Predict Surge in FHA Streamline Refis
FHA lenders are anticipating a spike in volume when changes to the FHA Streamline Refinance Program become effective next month. The biggest change to the program taking place on June 11 is the lower upfront mortgage insurance premium, which the Department of Housing and Urban Development had reduced to just 0.01 percent, and the annual MIP, which was lowered to 0.55 percent. The new premium pricing is effective for all streamline refi transactions that are refinancing FHA loans endorsed on or before May 31, 2009. HUD expects the change will ensure that borrowers benefit from a net reduction in their overall mortgage payment and, at the same time, reduce risk to the FHA. The FHA Streamline Refi program allows borrowers with FHA-insured loans who are current on their mortgage to refinance into a new FHA-insured loan without ...
May 11, 2012 - Inside FHA Lending
Beware of Conflicting FHA Rules, Standards
Mortgage servicers could find themselves in a quandary as they implement the national servicing standards outlined in the March foreclosure settlement agreement, especially if they run into conflicting FHA requirements. Compliance experts say that while many of the settlement standards could be carried out within the FHA program without being at odds with existing FHA requirements, conflicts do exist with the guidelines that cannot be resolved. Even when it is technically possible to comply with both FHA guidelines and the settlement standards, it is still going to ...
May 11, 2012 - Inside Nonconforming Markets
Non-Agency Servicers Vary on HAMP Outreach
American Home Mortgage Servicing ranked as the most active servicer in consumer-outreach efforts under the Home Affordable Modification Program, according to new data reported by the Treasury Department. Performance by other non-agency servicers varied, and even American Home lagged in some categories. As of the end of March, American Home was the only HAMP servicer among the top 10 to contact or evaluate 100 percent of its borrowers potentially eligible for HAMP. The servicer had evaluated a whopping ... [Includes one data chart]
May 11, 2012 - Inside MBS & ABS
GSEs Focused on HARP, New MBS Platform; Ginnie Mae Copes With New Issuer Demand
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac reported robust activity in their expanded refinance programs for underwater borrowers, while Ginnie Mae is looking at new procedures to identify the potential new issuers that are most likely to become strong participants in its program. Freddie officials are very focused on the expanded Home Affordable Refinance Program, said Paul Mullings, senior VP for single-family sourcing at the government-sponsored enterprise. He told attendees at the Mortgage Bankers Association National Secondary Market Conference in New York this week that HARP now accounts for 26 percent of the refi loan...
May 10, 2012 - Inside Mortgage Finance
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is putting together a group of small businesses related to the mortgage lending industry to brief them on the CFPB’s pending proposed rule on discount points and fees paid to mortgage originators and to gather initial industry input on the subject. Senior officials told the press this week they are assembling a panel per the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act, which requires the CFPB to convene a small business panel before rolling out regulations that the bureau expects to have a significant impact on a substantial number of small business...
May 10, 2012 - Inside Mortgage Finance
Mortgage Lenders Anxious About QM Rule And Disparate Impact as CFPB Sifts Options
The combination of weak legal protection, a narrow definition of “qualified mortgages” and growing use of the disparate impact theory of lending discrimination is creating rifts in the mortgage banking industry and leading some companies to pull back or abandon the market altogether. The ability-to-repay rule being developed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was arguably the most talked-about issue at this week’s secondary market conference held by the Mortgage Bankers Association. Its two major ingredients are a definition of qualified mortgages – loans that are underwritten to certain...
May 9, 2012 - Mortgage Beat
Donovan Urges Congress to Tear Down Barriers to Refinancing
Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan this week urged Congress to pass legislation to make it easier for responsible owners who are current on their payments to refinance. Testifying before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban...
May 4, 2012 - Inside Mortgage Trends
Fair Housing Charged Cases Grew, Says Report
Total fair housing complaints continued to decrease in 2011 from their 20-year peak in 2008, said the National Fair Housing Alliance in an annual report of housing trends, though the group seeks clarification on a number of still-pending regulations. Private fair housing groups, like the NFHA, investigated 65 percent of the 27,092 housing discrimination cases in 2011. Disability and race made up the bulk of complaints. Local statutes prohibiting housing discrimination classes not recognized by federal law, including age, sexual orientation and marital status as the bases for complaints. Most of the complaints...
May 4, 2012 - Inside The GSEs
Group Eying GSE Lenders for Disparate Impact Signs
A national consumer advocacy group, whose own investigation of FHA credit overlays spurred a federal probe of nearly two dozen FHA lenders, said it is keeping an eye on Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s use of loan-level price adjusters as a potential discriminatory lending practice. The National Community Reinvestment Coalition said it’s still waiting to hear from the Department of Housing and Urban Development about the results of multiple investigations HUD launched in December 2010 after NCRC found that 22 lenders set borrower credit scores as high as 640 for FHA loans, even though the FHA guarantees loans with scores as low as 580.
May 4, 2012 - Inside The GSEs
White House GSE Reform Plan Won’t Materialize ‘Anytime Soon’
Don’t expect the long-awaited White House plan to wind down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac “anytime soon,” an Obama administration official told lawmakers last week. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan told members of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee that the administration has made “significant” strides toward bringing private capital back into the housing market without help from Congress. However, the GSE overhaul promised for the first of the year needs more work, he said.
May 4, 2012 - Inside The GSEs
FHFA Feud Over GSE Writedowns Intensifies
The Federal Housing Finance Agency is still mulling over accepting principal reduction payments from the Treasury Department even as the debate between the factions for and against GSE loan writedowns is quickly dissolving into a partisan food fight. This week, two ranking House Republicans urged FHFA Acting Director Edward DeMarco to stand fast against mounting political pressure directed at him by the Congressional allies of the Obama administration as House Democrats took the gloves off, accusing the Finance Agency of falsely withholding pertinent information about the agency’s principal reduction analysis.
May 3, 2012 - Inside Mortgage Finance
Complexities of the QM/QRM Standards Mean The Industry Needs a Year to Implement Disclosure Rule
Mortgage industry officials are urging the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to give the industry plenty of time to implement the extensive – and inter-related – changes that are required under the Dodd-Frank Act. Two of the biggest anxieties these days are the rules on “qualified mortgages” and “qualified residential mortgages” being developed by federal regulators. Another is the CFPB project to integrate Truth in Lending Act/Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act mortgage disclosures. In addition to the fact that none of these rules have been made final, there’s a good deal of angst over how they...
May 3, 2012 - Inside Mortgage Finance
Small Mortgage Servicers Press CFPB to Allow Some Flexibility in Emerging National Standards
Small and medium-sized mortgage servicers want the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to allow flexibility to accommodate different business models as the agency drafts new national servicing standards that are expected to increase costs. The CFPB rulemaking process is somewhat unique because the Dodd-Frank Act requires that it take small business interests into account as it develops new regulations. The agency recently convened a panel under the process required by the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act to weigh the impact of new servicing requirements on smaller lenders. “The panel agreed...
May 1, 2012 - Mortgage Beat
SIGTARP Laments HAMP Liability Release in Servicing Settlement
The $25 billion settlement five major bank servicers, the federal government and state attorneys general agreed to in February included an unfortunate release from liability, according to the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program ...
April 30, 2012 - Inside Regulatory Strategies
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network’s latest report on mortgage loan fraud reported suspicious activity reports (MLF SARs) shows financial institutions submitted 92,028 MLF SARs last year, a 31 percent increase over the 70,472 submitted in 2010. FinCEN attributed the increase mostly to mortgage repurchase demands. On the other hand, financial institutions submitted 17,050 MLF SARs in the 2011 fourth quarter, a drop of 9 percent over the same period in 2010 when financial institutions filed 18,759 MLF SARs. “While too soon to call a trend, the fourth quarter of 2011 was the first time since...
April 30, 2012 - Inside Regulatory Strategies
Federal Reserve Board. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. National Mortgage Servicing Standards Continue. The interagency group of federal banking regulators continues to work to develop prudential standards for mortgage servicing activities in parallel with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s initiative, which focuses on certain aspects of mortgage servicing...
April 30, 2012 - Inside Regulatory Strategies
Illinois. Gifford State Bank, the defendant lender in Re Crane (Case 11-90592, U.S. Dist Ct, C.D. IL), recently appealed the February ruling of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of Illinois, a decision that let a bankruptcy trustee avoid an Illinois mortgage as to other creditors of the estate because the mortgage failed to expressly state the maturity date and interest rate of the underlying debt. Legislation that would contravene the Crane decision has been introduced in the state House of Representatives with the hope it can be passed before the May 31 end of the session...
April 30, 2012 - Inside Regulatory Strategies
Financial Stability Board Issues Sound Underwriting Principles
The Financial Stability Board has published principles for sound residential mortgage underwriting practices, emphasizing that participating jurisdictions should make sure lenders are effectively verifying income and other financial information, insisting on reasonable debt service coverage and appropriate loan-to-value ratios, engaging in effective collateral management, and making prudent use of mortgage insurance. The FSB said some or all of the principles may not necessarily be appropriate or applicable for certain niche forms of finance. But jurisdictions should...
April 30, 2012 - Inside Regulatory Strategies
No Private Right of Action Under HAMP, Appeals Court Rules
A homeowner does not have a private right of action against his mortgage servicer under the Obama administration’s Home Affordable Modification Program, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit ruled late last week. In this case, the borrower, Jason Miller, owned a parcel of real property in Hiawassee, GA, which he was able to purchase by taking out a mortgage loan from the unidentified predecessor of the defendant, Chase Home Finance, LLC (Chase). In February 2009, Miller asked for a loan modification from Chase, citing financial difficulties. Chase agreed to...
April 30, 2012 - Inside Regulatory Strategies
TILA/GFE Reform, Fair Lending Top Lender Compliance Concerns
The forthcoming combined Truth in Lending Act and Good Faith Estimate disclosure form and related rule pending at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is at the top of the list of greatest compliance concerns of mortgage lenders, according to the fourth annual compliance survey by QuestSoft, a provider of compliance software and services to the mortgage industry. Of the 426 lenders that were surveyed on their level of anxiety for regulatory changes, a whopping 81 percent identified this CFPB project as at least a medium (33 percent) or a high (48 percent) concern...
April 30, 2012 - Inside Regulatory Strategies
CFPB Soliciting Small Entities’ Input on Mortgage Servicing Rules
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has put together a second panel, as per the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act, tasked with giving the bureau input on the mortgage servicing rules proposal that the CFPB is working on under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. “The SBREFA requires the CFPB to convene a small business panel before rolling out regulations that the CFPB director expects to have a significant impact on a substantial number of small business entities,” explained Barbara Mishkin, of counsel in the consumer financial services group...
April 30, 2012 - Inside Regulatory Strategies
CFPB Clarifies Transitional Licensing Under the SAFE Act
It’s now clear that states may provide a transitional license to an individual with a valid license from another state under the Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act and Regulation H. However, they cannot provide a transitional license for a registered loan originator who leaves a federally regulated financial institution to act as a loan originator while pursuing a state license. The clarification came in the form of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Bulletin 2012-05, issued a week and a half ago, in response to some inquiries...
April 30, 2012 - Inside Regulatory Strategies
Industry Supports Multiple Efforts To Codify Privileged Protections
A handful of mortgage lending-related trade groups joined together to express their strong support of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s proposed rule to codify the legal protections for privileged information that CFPB-regulated financial institutions submit to the bureau. The proposal would make clear that an institution that submits privileged information to the CFPB does not waive any applicable privilege having to do with third parties. It also would make clear that the bureau’s transfer of privileged information to another federal or state agency does not result in a...
April 30, 2012 - Inside Regulatory Strategies
Lenders Press CFPB for QM Full Safe Harbor
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau must structure the definition of a “qualified mortgage” under its forthcoming ability-to-repay rule as a legal safe harbor with clear, well-defined standards if regulators want to make sure that qualified borrowers across the credit spectrum maintain access to affordable financing, representatives of the financial services, home building and real estate industries said. Writing to the CFPB late last week, a group of 23 trade associations said, “Structuring the QM as a safe harbor and focusing litigation and enforcement activity on...
April 30, 2012 - Inside Regulatory Strategies
Industry Lists Concerns With CFPB Disclosure
An ad hoc coalition of mortgage lender trade group representatives rattled off a host of concerns it has with the draft proposals from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for an integrated mortgage disclosure under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act and the Truth in Lending Act. The short list of concerns includes the need for careful synchronization with other rulemaking efforts, especially those involving the “qualified mortgage” and “qualified residential mortgage” designations; the negative and unfair results of lowering cost tolerances; the unintended consequences of expanding...
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- Ocwen Officials Surprised by Nationstar Bids
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- CFPB Taking on Origination Points and Fees
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- Freddie Hires a New Chief Executive Officer and Other Things Affecting the GSEs
