As the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau prepares to begin assessing its ability-to-repay/qualified mortgage rule, national representatives of the mortgage industry and other financial services participants this week urged the regulator to deal with what’s known as the “GSE patch.” The patch provides a temporary safe harbor for mortgages eligible to be sold to the government-sponsored enterprises that have debt-to-income ratios that exceed 43 percent, the maximum allowed under the ATR rule. The Housing Policy Council of the Financial Services Roundtable noted...

Housing finance groups are concerned that the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s idea to better serve borrowers with limited proficiency in English by adding a language preference question to loan applications could create a host of legal challenges and systemic risks. A year ago, the FHFA decided to defer a plan to include a question about a borrower’s language preference on the uniform residential loan application, and gather more input instead. The agency specifically asked for information on potential short-term and long-term improvements to help borrowers not fluent in English better understand the mortgage process. And from the looks of the comments, it appears...

The Senate Committee on Appropriations last week unanimously approved legislation setting aside $40.2 billion in discretionary funding for the Department of Housing and Urban Development for fiscal 2018. The Senate HUD appropriations bill passed by a vote of 31-0 and, like the House version, did not include authority for HUD to charge a fee to cover FHA’s administrative costs and systems upgrades as proposed in the Trump administration’s budget request. Rather, both bills set aside $130 million for administrative expenses with the House adding another $5 million for technological improvements. In addition, the committee recommended...

Bank of America reported $230.0 million in combined second-quarter mortgage-banking income, a hefty 88.5 percent increase from the previous period.

Watt noted that, “Some lenders are finally showing more willingness to extend credit to borrowers who meet the broader credit criteria reflected in the enterprises’ credit boxes…”

Ocwen originated $699.6 million in the second quarter, with a near doubling of retail originations unable to fully offset the wind-down in correspondent production…

The maneuver was uncommon and prompted speculation that other trustees might take similar actions.

The company has been trying to restructure its operations under CEO Anthony Renzi, who joined the firm last year.

Cowen & Co. analyst Jaret Seiberg believes the Senate Banking Committee remains on track to unveil GSE reform legislation late in the fourth quarter...

In past SEC filings Radian hinted that a write-down tied to its 2014 $305 million purchase of Clayton might be in order, but the company never pulled the trigger.