Time is not a friend to the housing finance system so long as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac remain in government conservatorship with no endgame in sight, according to the former head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Former FHFA Acting Director Edward DeMarco, now a senior fellow in residence for the Milken Institute’s Center for Financial Markets, told attendees at this week’s Bipartisan Policy Council’s housing summit in Washington that the ongoing conservatorships of the two government-sponsored enterprises – now in the sixth year – will continue to distort the market and place taxpayers at risk. “The conservatorships are...

An Illinois district court’s decision that federal preemption issues are not ripe may now prompt a federal district court in Washington, DC, to examine the broader issue of whether disparate impact is a valid claim under the Fair Housing Act. The Illinois lawsuit, Property Casualty Insurers Association of America v. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, is one of two insurance-industry legal challenges to HUD’s disparate-impact rule. The second case was filed by two other trade groups, the American Insurance Association and the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies, and is pending in federal court in the nation’s capital. According to the final rule that HUD adopted in February 2013, a practice has...

The U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear cases in its coming term regarding guidance issued by the Department of Labor involving overtime pay for loan officers. Oral arguments are scheduled for Dec. 1, and a decision is expected by June. The cases are Perez v. Mortgage Bankers Association and Nickols v. Mortgage Bankers Association. The MBA has argued that the DOL didn’t follow rulemaking procedures in 2010 when the regulator withdrew guidance stating that loan officers could be exempt from overtime compensation requirements under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Lenders have received...

Some mortgage executives told us privately that residential originations could fall by 20 percent year.

According to the final rule that HUD adopted in February 2013, a practice has a discriminatory effect on a protected class if HUD or a private plaintiff can establish liability under the statute, even if there is no intent to discriminate.

The 16, which include the Mortgage Bankers Association and American Bankers Association, want the CFPB to deepen its engagement using industry forums.

“Law enforcement has been on a bit of a run with settlements and enforcement," said Jim Parrott, a former Obama administration point man on housing.

The FHFA partially agreed with the IG's first recommendation and flatly rejected the second.

Company CEO Brian Hale downplayed the news of an offering book, noting that it hired an investment banker because over the past 12 months Stearns has been approached by “a number of interested investors.”

The loan is available in California, Florida, Hawaii and New Jersey, and is slated to be expanded to other states.