Industry participants largely support a plan from the Federal Housing Finance Agency to tie adjustments of the conforming loan limits to the FHFA’s “expanded data” House Price Index. The extent to which conforming loan limits should be adjusted, however, remains a topic subject to debate. In May, the FHFA noted that home prices were close to recovering from the aftermath of the financial crisis, which could prompt an increase to the conforming loan limit. The $417,000 conforming loan limit took effect in 2006 and the FHFA was prevented from reducing the limit by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008. The FHFA proposed...
W.J. Bradley Mortgage recently settled a civil suit filed against one of its competitors, RPM Mortgage, regarding the alleged theft of customer loan files by a top-ranked and recruited loan officer. In a statement, RPM said: “We are pleased that the litigation with W.J. Bradley has been settled. As always, the confidentiality of client information is of paramount importance to RPM.” W.J. Bradley, the original plaintiff in the matter, would not comment...
The Government Accountability Office wants federal regulators responsible for reviewing the qualified mortgage and qualified residential mortgage rules to make sure they consider specific metrics and analytic methods. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the other federal agencies are slated to issue a review of the QM rule in January. The review of the QRM standard, part of a mortgage-securitization rule, won’t happen until 2019. So far, the regulatory agencies have identified...
An appeals court in the D.C. Circuit has ruled that a Texas bank has standing to challenge the constitutionality of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, an independent federal agency that regulates consumer financial products and services. A three-person judicial panel unanimously overturned a 2013 district court ruling, which concluded that the plaintiff did not have standing and that its claims were not ripe. In State National Bank of Big Spring, TX, et al. v. Lew, et al., the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit reversed and ruled that the bank has standing to challenge the constitutionality of the CFPB as well as the recess appointment of its director, Richard Cordray. The bank, joined by two nonprofit organizations, originally filed...
State regulators have proposed changes to Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System & Registry licensing forms and call reports that would be a mixed bag for lenders, addressing some concerns while adding new reporting requirements. The proposal from the State Regulatory Registry, a subsidiary of the Conference of State Bank Supervisors, comes two months after an initial request for comments regarding NMLS licensing forms and the mortgage call report (MCR). Comments on the proposal are due Aug. 20. State regulators stuck...
In particular, Wells said it would “withdraw from mortgage marketing services and desk rental agreements with real estate firms, builders and certain other referral sources.”
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