The CFPB issued a report earlier this month finding, more often than not, that owners of manufactured homes pay higher interest rates for their loans than borrowers whose homes were built onsite. “In 2012, about 68 percent of all manufactured-housing purchase loans were considered ‘higher-priced mortgage loans,’ compared with only 3 percent of site-built home loans,” the CFPB said. Two out of three manufactured-home owners eligible for mortgages finance with more expensive personal property (“chattel”) loans instead. That’s good and bad. On the one hand, chattel loans have lower origination costs and quick closing timelines, as the bureau noted. But on the other hand, they also have “significantly fewer consumer protections than mortgage loans,” the bureau said. For example, only ...
The CFPB generally complies with portions of the Dodd-Frank Act requiring it to gauge the impact of any of its proposed rules on small business, but some of its interim policies and procedures should be enhanced, according to a new report from the agency’s Office of Inspector General. At issue is Section 1100G of Dodd-Frank, which requires the CFPB to assess the impact of any proposed rule on the cost of credit for small business entities through regulatory flexibility analyses, and to convene panels to seek direct input from small business entities prior to issuing certain rules. “Overall, we found that the CFPB complied with the provisions of section 1100G of the Dodd-Frank Act as well as the two interim policies and procedures issued by the CFPB’s Division of Research, Markets and Regulations,” the report ...
In another bid to help mortgage bankers better assess their compliance capabilities, the CFPB has updated its mortgage rules readiness guide to include the Truth in Lending Act and Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act integrated mortgage disclosures, otherwise known as “TRID.” Version 3.0 of the guide, dated September 2014, summarizes the mortgage rules finalized by the CFPB as of Aug. 1, 2014, but it is not a substitute for the rules. “Only the rules and their official interpretations can provide complete and definitive information regarding their requirements,” the bureau reminds. Each rule description includes a hyperlink with additional information, including Small Entity Compliance Guides, which may make the rule easier to digest. The guide consists of four parts: a summary of the rules ...
Bureau Updates Its Reverse Mortgages Guide With Words of Caution. The CFPB has updated its reverse mortgage guide to reflect some recent, potentially important changes to such loan products. The bureau is urging caution, noting such mortgages can be risky and expensive. “It’s a complicated type of loan that works best for homeowners who carefully consider all of their options,” the agency said. One of the highlighted changes limits the amount of money a homeowner can draw from the loan in the first year. “Borrowers often get into trouble by taking a lump-sum payment early on,” said the CFPB. “It may feel great to get a big payment up front, but borrowers can outlive this money – which spells financial trouble for borrowers who live longer lives.” ...
Analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch are predicting a solid fourth quarter for jumbo MBS, enough to bring the total for 2014 up to about $8.0 billion when the year is over.
Thanks to a heavy supply of scratch-and-dent deals and a rebound in jumbo mortgage securitizations, new issuance in the non-agency MBS market jumped by 57.4 percent in the third quarter of 2014, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS analysis and ranking. A total of $8.99 billion of non-agency MBS were issued during the third quarter, a major increase from the $5.71 billion issued in the previous three-month period. Year-to-date issuance was still off 27.3 percent from the first nine months of 2013, and it is doubtful that annual volume this year will top 2013’s total when the year is over. Issuance of prime non-agency MBS in the third quarter was...[Includes three data charts]
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s release of a final rule setting loan-level disclosure requirements for certain structured finance products has only slightly reduced the uncertainty regarding the impact of the so-called Reg AB2 requirements. Among other issues, the SEC left parts of its initial proposal from 2010 unfinished, with no indication of if or when further action will be taken. For example, the SEC had originally proposed extending loan-level disclosure requirements to the 144A private-placement market in addition to requiring such disclosures for certain SEC-registered securities, including residential MBS, commercial MBS, ABS backed by auto loans and re-securitizations of such collateral. At the recent ABS East conference produced by Information Management Network in Miami Beach, Rolaine Bancroft, a senior special counsel at the SEC, said...
The disclosure rule recently issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission aims to reduce reliance on credit ratings in the structured finance market, an issue that federal regulators have long grappled with. The SEC’s Regulation AB took effect in 2006, and it included a requirement that publicly offered securities have an investment-grade rating. The so-called Reg AB2 finalized by the SEC in August eliminates the rating requirement and instead sets a number of new requirements for publicly issued deals. Beginning in November 2015, the CEO of the depositor of publicly issued...
Ending the conservatorships of the government-sponsored enterprises and recapitalizing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is the “most pragmatic and feasible” solution to facilitate housing finance reform and protect taxpayers, according to a recently issued white paper. In his blueprint for ending GSE conservatorship, Clifford Rossi – adjunct professor at the Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland, College Park – calls for an administrative solution by recapitalizing Fannie and Freddie and bringing the GSEs out of conservatorship under strict conditions as the next best way of implementing housing finance reform short of legislation. “Conservatorship was...