For the past two years, Bank of America has been the poster child of legacy servicing sales, but it may soon have some company. According to industry advisors who specialize in the mortgage servicing rights market, JPMorgan Chase and a few other large banks with seasoned portfolios are developing “deal teams” to explore their options. Chase’s name has surfaced from time to time as a select seller of legacy product. But it also has been a selective buyer of servicing, including the purchase last fall of $70 billion in rights from MetLife, which was closing out its interest in the mortgage business. A spokeswoman for Chase declined...
In a legal development that could be pivotal for the tenure of Richard Cordray as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau – as well as the scope of the agency’s authority – the Supreme Court of the United States announced this week that it was taking on Noel Canning v. National Labor Relations Board. In Canning, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled earlier this year that President Obama’s three recess appointments to the NLRB were unconstitutional. If the SCOTUS upholds that determination, it could eventually spell the end for Cordray’s tenure at the helm of the bureau, numerous attorneys concur, given that he was named to the CFPB as a recess appointment in the same announcement in which the President revealed his NLRB appointments. There’s more...
Servicers appear to have won a battle with consumer advocates regarding state adoption of servicing requirements that exceed those established by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The Council of State Governments this weekend decided against recommending California’s “Homeowner’s Bill of Rights” as model legislation for states, according to a spokesman for the CSG. The Mortgage Bankers Association had warned that piecemeal adoption of California’s bill would increase costs and create confusion. California’s Homeowner’s Bill of Rights included...
Closely-watched market share calculations for the retail mortgage channel have been recalculated by Inside Mortgage Finance. In the past, Inside Mortgage Finance has calculated retail market shares by dividing each firm’s retail originations by the total volume of loans originated during the period with no involvement by third-party originators, either mortgage brokers or loan correspondents. Observers have pointed out...[Includes two data charts]
The Department of Housing and Urban Development is seeking additional authority from Congress to transfer FHA mortgage servicing in order to facilitate loss mitigation. The change would allow the FHA to require specific actions when a servicer is underperforming or has a low score on HUD’s Tiered Ranking System, including the transfer of servicing to an FHA-designated special servicer or requiring a servicer to enter into a sub-servicing agreement. With expanded powers, the FHA also may require a servicer to engage a third-party to assist in loss mitigation services. Such authority would enable the FHA to better avoid losses due to poor servicing and, thus, protect the MMI Fund, HUD said. Testifying before a Senate appropriations subcommittee, FHA Commissioner Carol Galante noted...
The revised ranking for the first quarter shows that the top retail lender, Wells Fargo, produced $60.4 billion through this channel, or 12 percent of total originations for the period.
Some non-agency participants have called for an immediate return to conforming loan limits of $417,000, which were in place in 2008 before Congress established “emergency” loan limits for high-cost areas.
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