Industry representatives might be interested to know that the Treasury Department’s Office of Financial Research is working with the CFPB on some key regulatory initiatives. For instance, the OFR is providing technical support to the CFPB and other regulators to create a universal mortgage loan identifier to promote transparency, data aggregation, comparability, and analysis in the home mortgage market, the office said in a new report. The Dodd-Frank Act authorized the bureau to collect more data about individual mortgage loans and to mandate that entities reporting data under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act provide a universal loan identifier for each loan or application that they are required to report. The OFR published a working paper on this subject in late ...

The most recent work plan issued by the CFPB's Office of Inspector General indicates the results of a handful of audits are expected to be completed sometime during the fourth quarter, indicating that either they will be released within the next few months or held over until sometime after the start of 2015. One such review has to do with a joint evaluation of coordination between the CFPB and other regulatory agencies. The inspectors general of the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the National Credit Union Administration, and the Department of the Treasury are conducting “an evaluation of the coordination between the CFPB and other regulatory agencies with respect to conducting supervisory activities,” said the OIG’s work plan. ...

Senate, House to Wrap Up 113th Congress This Week. The U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives are expected to wrap up the affairs of the 113th Congress this week, but it was unclear as of press time whether any pending CFPB-related legislation might make its way through the national legislature’s gauntlet and wind up on the desk of President Barack Obama. Last week, the House passed a large package of tax extenders. This week, House and Senate negotiators are expected to be busy working on appropriations legislation to keep the government funded for the remainder of the fiscal year. The 114th Congress is expected to convene on Jan. 6, 2015, with Republicans firmly in control of both chambers, presenting ...

The provision, expected to raise $30 million for FHA quality assurance efforts, would allow the Department of Housing and Urban Development to charge a fee of no more than 4 basis points.

However, through the first nine months of 2014, jumbo originations haven’t been able to keep up with the strong pace set last year.

All three agencies saw double-digit declines in new production, but Fannie Mae experienced the the biggest decline.

New issuance of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae single-family MBS fell 13.7 percent from October to November, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS analysis of loan-level data. The three agencies produced $80.23 billion of single-family MBS last month, the lowest amount since June. November also marked the first monthly decline in new production after seven consecutive monthly gains that started in April. All three agencies saw...[Includes two data charts]

The pending AMC and AVM rules are designed to protect against the manipulation of data and much more.

The relatively strong performance of mortgages in vintage non-agency MBS could be disrupted by interest rate resets and the expiration of interest-only periods, according to analysts at Fitch Ratings. Roughly half of all performing first-lien mortgages in non-agency MBS will be exposed to monthly payment increases during the next five years, Fitch said in a report released this week. The rating service determined that if a borrower’s monthly payment increases by 35 percent, the probability of default for the borrower doubles. “The product that’s going to be most affected is...

Non-agency MBS backed by nonperforming mortgages that include a program manager benefit from the unique oversight provided by the manager, according to Moody’s Investors Service. However, there are concerns that in some instances the program manager’s interests may conflict with those of senior bondholders. Moody’s said program managers typically set performance targets and monitor servicers’ progress at the loan level, adopt foreclosure strategies that reduce timelines and expenses and direct servicers’ loss mitigation strategies. The managers are more common on non-agency MBS backed by nonperforming loans than on non-agency MBS backed by newly originated mortgages. Program managers are...