The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s ability-to-repay rule was an “over correction” in terms of income documentation standards, according to Peter Carroll, executive vice president for mortgage policy and counterparty relations at Quicken Loans. At a talk this week hosted by the Financial Services Roundtable and CoreLogic, Carroll said the ATR rule has limited Quicken’s originations of mortgages for borrowers who have significant income that’s accounted for outside of ...
LendingHome announced this week that it has originated more than $100 million in loans since launching a year ago, focusing on flexible financing options for investors with a wide range of credit characteristics. The firm is a marketplace lender, connecting borrowers with investors. To this point, LendingHome has focused its originations on bridge loans and loans for investor properties. Officials at the lender said LendingHome plans to offer nonconforming mortgages this year with ...
Ocwen Financial had a rough 2014, but officials at the nonbank suggest the company will be profitable in 2015 and beyond. Ocwen faces a number of outstanding issues, including questions from an independent auditor regarding the nonbank’s ability to operate as a going concern. Ocwen reported a preliminary net loss of $546.29 million in 2014 compared with net income of $310.42 million in 2013. Officials at the nonbank said the loss for 2014 incorporates the impact of ...
The Obama administration and the head of the Mortgage Bankers Association, among others, agree that the ongoing conservatorship of the government-sponsored enterprises is unsustainable. However, with a strong divide between political parties regarding the level of government support needed in a system that replaces Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, GSE reform remains a notion years away from completion. “Market participants are truly uncertain about the government’s longer-term ...
Lenders of all stripes continue to push for changes to rules established by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. There are divisions among trade groups about which lenders deserve special treatment regarding qualified mortgages and portfolio lending, among other issues. This week, the Community Mortgage Lenders of America proposed that lenders should receive regulatory relief if they are small, largely focus on qualified mortgages and avoid regulatory ...
The Federal Home Loan Bank of New York and MAX Exchange announced a pilot program that will allow members of the New York FHLBank to sell jumbo whole loans on an open exchange platform. MAX Exchange is a peer-to-peer trading platform and clearing house for mortgages. The pilot program will include a limited number of pre-approved traditional secondary mortgage investors and a limited number of New York FHLBank members ... [Includes six briefs]
The outstanding supply of VA home loans in Ginnie Mae pools continued to grow during the first quarter of 2015, climbing 2.9 percent from the end of last year, according to a new Inside FHA/VA Lending analysis of loan-level mortgage-backed securities disclosures. Meanwhile, the supply of FHA loans in Ginnie pools fell 0.5 percent during the first quarter. Similarly, FHA loans in Ginnie MBS declined by 2.2 percent from the first quarter of 2014 while VA loans ... [Includes three data charts]
First Horizon National Corp. has announced an agreement in principle with the federal government to settle potential claims related to the underwriting and origination of FHA-insured mortgages during the run-up to the financial crisis. Disclosed in a regulatory filing, the agreement between First Tennessee Bank and the Department of Justice and the Department of Housing and Urban Development covers FHA loans originated from 2006 through 2008, which have gone to claim ...
A recent $36 million settlement agreement between Golden First Mortgage Corp. and the federal government is raising questions about the lender’s ability to pay. The Department of Justice apparently has a plan to collect from a company that is no longer in business and hardly generated enough revenue to pay the full settlement amount. Whatever that plan is, the agency is not disclosing it. Based in upstate New York, Golden First agreed to pay up to resolve allegations that it ...