Last week, the CFPB ordered a Missouri mortgage lender, Fidelity Mortgage Corp., and its former owner and current president, Mark Figert, to pay $81,076 to settle allegations it funneled illegal kickbacks to a bank in exchange for loan referrals. The bureau charged that Fidelity, a St. Louis-based non-depository mortgage lender, entered into an agreement with an unnamed bank in which the bank referred potential borrowers to Fidelity in exchange for kickbacks. The kickbacks were disguised as inflated lease payments...
While most mortgage lenders continue to insist they wont originate new loans that fall outside the CFPBs qualified mortgage parameters, one notable exception is San Francisco-based Bank of the West, which recently announced it will continue to offer interest-only mortgages, despite the fact such loans do not qualify for QM status. We extensively reviewed the CFPBs rules and found them broadly consistent with how Bank of the West has always done business, said Paul Wible, senior executive vice president and head of the banks...
The CFPBs recently released semiannual regulatory agenda indicates the bureau plans to remain on a robust mortgage-related rulemaking schedule, although not at the blistering pace seen one year ago when it issued a handful of game-changing rules for the mortgage lending and servicing sectors. The CFPB said it is continuing rulemaking activities to assist in the full implementation of, and facilitate compliance with, various mortgage-related final rules issued by the bureau in January 2013, strengthening consumer protections involving...
With the mortgage industry having failed to delay implementation of the CFPBs ability-to-repay rule/qualified mortgage standard, industry representatives have shifted gears and are now pressing for numerous alterations to the bureaus controversial rule, which took effect Jan. 10. During a hearing last week before the House Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit, the Mortgage Bankers Association had a number of recommendations, including abandoning the rebuttable presumption level of legal...
Its too early to say how the January effective dates for a handful of game-changing rules from the CFPB are going to affect mortgage lenders and servicers. The real test will be what happens when the CFPB shows up at the door and wants to sit down and have a look around. The short-term implications of the bureaus new rules likely wont be any big deal, according to Scott Stucky, chief operating officer of DocuTech Corp., a provider of compliance and document technology...
Moodys notes that all three have grown their production operations a positive but question whether over the long term whether they can compete with banks in the prime market.