Treasury Undersecretary Jeffrey Goldstein told an industry gathering last week that the Obama administration is paying very close attention to industry feedback on its controversial risk-retention proposed rule, after an outpouring of concern from both the industry and a number of members of Congress raised the alarm. “We are seriously considering feedback and are committed to getting this rule right, so that we can ensure securitization ...

The Supreme Court of the United States has accepted First American Financial Corp. v. Edwards, in which the justices will consider whether an individual who has not suffered any actual damages from violations of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act has legal standing to sue in federal court. SCOTUS plans to consider two questions, the first of which is “whether RESPA requires the plaintiff in a private damages action to allege that an unlawful…

Legislation gaining momentum in Congress to create a covered bond framework still lacks the endorsement of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Analysts note that the FDIC’s concerns need to be addressed for there to be any hope of establishing a non-agency market via covered bonds. Last week, the House Financial Services Committee approved H.R. 940, the U.S. Covered Bond Act of 2011, by a 44-7 bipartisan vote. However, the committee rejected...

The National Credit Union Administration’s lawsuits regarding non-agency mortgage-backed securities mark a shift in focus to misrepresentation rather than breaches of representations and warranties, according to industry attorneys. Last week, the NCUA filed lawsuits against JPMorgan Securities and RBS Securities claiming that misrepresentations as well as violations of federal and state securities laws caused...

Following signs that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau may been far more involved in the 50-state servicer settlement discussions than it has publicly let on, key Republican House committee chairmen have called upon Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to provide documents and records related to the CFPB’s role in the negotiations, un-redacted, by no later than July 5. In their request, the lawmakers cited a copy of a CFPB settlement presentation that recommended goals, provided…

The strength of the non-agency market has become a major point of concern as a diverse coalition of market participants lobbies for changes to a proposed rule for mandatory risk retention. The impact on the non-agency market is second only to the group’s concerns about downpayment requirements in the qualified residential mortgage debate. “The proposed narrow QRM rule discourages...

Subprime borrowers in rural areas have been significantly impacted by mandatory escrow requirements on higher-priced mortgages, according to community banks. The Independent Community Bankers of America is leading efforts by banks to limit or remove escrow requirements currently enforced by the Federal Reserve. The minimum period for mandatory escrow accounts for most first-lien higher-priced mortgages would be expanded...

Sen. Robert Menendez, D-NJ, is considering putting together comprehensive legislation that would reconcile a number of existing mortgage servicing-related bills already introduced in the Senate, according to top industry representatives and other Capitol Hill sources closely following the developments.“There has been some interest expressed by Sen. Menendez’s office in yoking together a lot of different bills in terms of a comprehensive bill,” one informed source confided. “But it’s not clear how much ...

At least three lenders are looking to re-establish the market for non-prime lending. Two firms are hoping to attract additional funding and begin non-prime lending shortly, while a smaller player is already offering the loans. Shellpoint Partners has plans to expand the offerings of a recently acquired agency originator, New Penn Financial. Shellpoint is a specialty finance company and joint venture with Ranieri Partners. Lewis Ranieri, a co-founder of Shellpoint, said...

The Treasury Market Practices Group this week proposed a revised recommendation for a charge on MBS deals that fail. Under the new policy, the fails charge of agency MBS would be the greater of 0 percent or 2.0 percent minus the federal funds target rate. The charge would accrue...