Mortgage industry groups continue to rail against the disruptions they insist are being caused by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s integrated disclosure rule known as TRID. Respondents to a February survey by the American Bankers Association indicated that TRID compliance is still a relevant problem, continues to impose a heavy compliance burden, and causes customer dissatisfaction through delayed closings and increased fees and costs, the trade group ...

Despite the desire of mortgage lenders to preserve or expand their origination business this year, many are anxious about increasing compliance risk and more competition, according to a recent survey by Fannie Mae. Of those lenders responding, 88 percent said they are looking to grow their mortgage origination business, continuing a trend from the prior year, versus just 12 percent indicating they want to maintain current levels. No lenders expressed an intention to downsize or ...

FHFA Ramps Up HARP Social Media Efforts. The Federal Housing Finance Agency kicked off a new social media campaign in late February, #HARPNow, to let more than 367,600 homeowners across the country know about the Home Affordable Refinance Program before it expires on Dec. 31, 2016. FHFA will use Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube to reach homeowners in the 10 states with the greatest concentration of HARP-eligible borrowers. Fannie Names Winner of Second NPL Community Impact Pool. Fannie Mae announced that New Jersey Community Capital is the winning bidder of the company’s second Community Impact Pool of non-performing loans. This pool of loans was structured to attract diverse participation from non-profits, smaller investors and minority- and women-owned businesses. The transaction...

Publicly-traded nonbank mortgage lenders posted erratic results from their mortgage-banking operations during the fourth quarter of 2015. As a group, the nine companies reported a combined $54.08 million in mortgage-banking income for the fourth quarter, a significant improvement from the $26.26 million loss they posted in the previous quarter. But three of the nonbanks – Impac, Ocwen and PHH Corp. – recorded losses on their mortgage origination ... [Includes one data chart]

The Federal Housing Finance Agency issued a final rule last week in which it adjusted the maximum civil money penalties it can impose on a regulated entity or any entity-affiliated party. The last time the maximum CMP amounts were set was in 2008. The FHFA noted that the increases in maximum penalty amounts contained in this final rule might not necessarily affect the amount of any CMP the FHFA may seek for a violation. “FHFA would calculate each CMP on a case-by-case basis in light of a variety of factors,” the final ruling stated. The FHFA’s Rules of Practice and Procedures allow the agency to govern cease-and-desist proceedings, civil money penalty assessment proceedings, and other administrative adjudications.

The 11 surviving Federal Home Loan Banks posted a significant increase in net income during the fourth quarter of 2015, along with a surprising jump in advances. The Office of Finance reported that the FHLBanks generated $673 million in net income during the fourth quarter, a 39.0 percent increase from the prior period. That brought year-to-date income to $2.850 billion, a 26.6 percent gain from 2014. Non-interest income was up sharply last year in large part because of settlements related to FHLBank investments in soured non-agency mortgage-backed securities, which brought in $688 million in 2015, mostly in the first half of the year. Legal settlements accounted for...

One of the companies that purchased a large number of distressed homes from Fannie Mae following the housing crisis was the focus of a recent New York Times piece highlighting the problems brought on by investor-purchased homes that still linger today. Harbour Portfolio Advisors of Dallas is an investment firm that purchased thousands of single-family homes from Fannie in states like Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan and Ohio, by way of a pool sales program that existed from 2010 to 2014. The article accused the firm of targeting and taking advantage of low-income buyers who don’t know what they’re getting themselves into once agreeing to buy a fixer-upper home from Harbour. The investment firm bought...

Bank of America introduced a new affordable lending program last week that allows 3 percent downpayments and no required reserve funds in most instances. The bank partnered with Freddie Mac and Self-Help Ventures Fund, a Durham, NC-based nonprofit, to offer conforming loans to borrowers whose income doesn’t exceed 100 percent of the area median income. There’s also no private mortgage insurance on the loans as “Self-Help Ventures Fund is taking the first loss position in the event of a loan default through a recourse agreement,” said a Freddie spokesman. The Affordable Loan Solution mortgage was designed to let creditworthy homebuyers who meet specific income limits and other requirements to become homeowners at an affordable entry point, said...

Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae recently enhanced the disclosures for their single-family credit risk transfers to give potential investors more information on the deals. Investors and lawmakers have been calling for more transparency since the GSEs began transferring credit risk several years ago.Freddie’s disclosures for all single-family credit risk transfer initiatives will now include quarterly updates on credit scores for outstanding loans in all transactions as well as quarterly updated mark-to-market loan-to-value ratios. Freddie said this leverages the estimated property value from its Home Value Explorer Automated Valuation Model tool. Investors can analyze loan-level mortgage insurance details and identify whether or not the lender or the borrower paid the mortgage insurance on the loan.

As talks of GSE reform intensify with FHFA Director Mel Watt’s speech last month citing concerns about dwindling capital levels, the Mortgage Bankers Association held a briefing this week on Capitol Hill focusing on the urgent need for reform, but stopped short at agreeing with calls to recapitalize the mortgage giants. Reasons to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac appear to be growing like a never-ending laundry list with increased risk to taxpayers at the very top. The MBA said its core concern is that one of the GSEs will have to take a draw from the U.S. Treasury because earnings capacity is much less than it has been over the past few years and is only expected to decline.