A recent amendment by Congress to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act was helpful for mortgage servicers but further action is necessary, according to industry participants. Servicers continue to raise concerns about the TCPA due to an order issued by the Federal Communications Commission in June. The order placed restrictions on auto-dialed calls to cell phones, subjecting servicers and others to penalties of $500 per call with no cap on statutory damages. The TCPA allows...
The Blackstone Group this week continued its expanding reach into the mortgage industry, agreeing to buy – through an affiliate – Interactive Mortgage Advisors, Denver, one of the busiest sellers of mortgage servicing rights in the nation. No purchase price was revealed. IMA is being sold through an “asset” transfer. Its trading desk affiliate, Spurs Capital, is not part of the transaction, though the two firms will maintain a working relationship. In the fourth quarter, IMA brokered...
Two Republican lawmakers in the House have raised questions about the diminishing capital held by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac at a time when the two government-sponsored enterprises are expected to generate huge dividends for the government over the next decade. Reps. Stephen Lee (TN) and Mick Mulvaney (SC) recently asked the Federal Housing Finance Agency and the Treasury to consider the impact on the financial system and taxpayers of the GSEs holding no capital. They argue that Fannie and Freddie are already in violation of their statutory capital reserve requirements, and they will not be able to hold any capital after Jan. 1, 2018. “It is...
Redwood noted that although it is quitting commercial mortgage production, it will continue to “opportunistically invest in mezzanine and subordinate CMBS tranches that meet our risk/return profile.”
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