The eight banks tracked by the OCC’s Mortgage Metrics report – including Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase – completed 7,571 principal reduction mods in the first quarter...
Pete Mills, SVP for residential policy at the Mortgage Bankers Association, said there are a few issues not covered by the bureau’s delay. “What about state regulators?" he asked. "Are they going to be bound, are they under that same understanding as the bureau?”
An increase in existing home sales during May offers further evidence of an improved housing market, thanks in part to first-time buyers taking advantage of recent mortgage initiatives. The National Association of Realtors said the number of existing home sales rose to 5.35 million, up from 5.09 million in April, and up 9.2 percent from the 4.90 million transactions reported a year ago. That was the strongest sales rate since 2009. “We have seen...
A number of recent headline-generating fair lending settlements may have focused largely on issues of pricing disparities, but there has been a sea change among policymakers these days moving in the direction of greater access to mortgage credit, some industry experts say. During an Inside Mortgage Finance webinar this week, Jeffrey Naimon, a partner in the Washington, DC, office of the BuckleySandler law firm, said the industry is seeing a pendulum swing from the focal point of concern being loan pricing to loan access. “Especially during the time when subprime loans were available, there was a lot of concern that minority borrowers were being steered into higher-cost subprime loans,” he told attendees. “The adoption of the loan originator compensation rule by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau affected...
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency announced last week that six banks subject to servicing-related consent orders established in 2011 will face new restrictions because the banks haven’t met all of the requirements in those orders. The restrictions were particularly harsh for Wells Fargo, the industry’s largest servicer. Wells handled $1.72 trillion in servicing as of the end of the first quarter of 2015, accounting for 17.5 percent of the servicing market, according to Inside Mortgage Finance. Until the consent order is terminated by the OCC, Wells will be prevented...
Lenders are generally supportive of the FHA’s recently issued guidance explaining how the agency intends to categorize loan defects found in FHA single-family mortgages. At the same time, some observers find the guidance disappointing because it offers no protection for lenders against costly false claims lawsuits. The loan-defect assessment methodology or “defect taxonomy” was first unveiled in September 2014 as part of the Blueprint for Access that FHA hopes will expand access to credit by underserved consumers and first-time homebuyers. In particular, the new taxonomy will complement the updated loan-certification language used by direct-endorsement lenders to warrant compliance with FHA rules and the new Single Family Policy Handbook to create a stronger quality assurance program, according to Edward Golding, principal deputy assistant secretary for housing. The taxonomy has...
Nonbank mortgage lenders accounted for 43.3 percent of the total originations produced by the top 100 lenders during the first quarter of 2015, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance ranking and analysis. That was up from a 42.7 percent share of production by the top 100 in the fourth quarter of 2014 and a 38.0 percent share a year ago. The 48 nonbanks that ranked in the top 100 originators had a combined $133.35 billion in first-quarter production, up 13.0 percent from the fourth quarter. Banks and thrifts still play...[Includes one data table]
The sale of RoundPoint Mortgage Servicing has fallen apart with the bidder walking away from the table, according to industry advisors close to the transaction. Sources indicate that Tavistock Group, the owner of the nation’s 24th largest servicer, still has an interest in finding a buyer for the servicer/lender, but for now no deal is imminent. Tavistock bills itself as an international private-equity firm with a strong interest in finance, real estate and other sectors. The firm is headquartered in the Bahamas. An advisor close to the transaction declined...
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