Mortgage companies may not realize it, but the CFPB is partnering with the state attorneys general, the Department of Justice, and in some cases, the Department of Financial Services in New York.

Still, the new index from the Urban Institute is not perfect...

Several weeks back, a FHFA official told IMFnews that just 18 members would be affected by the captive rule, mostly REITs.

In regard to misrepresentations, relief will not be offered if it can be proved that a borrower was misled by the originator. And, of course, any mortgage subject to fraud must be bought back.

A GSE bill? Since Congress and President Obama have such a strong track record of working together on legislation we know how that’s going to turn out…

Mortgage originations increased in all the major product categories during the third quarter of 2014, although new adjustable-rate mortgage lending was down slightly. A new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis shows that conventional-conforming originations increased by 11.7 percent from the second quarter to the third. That was slightly faster than the 10.2 percent increase in jumbo production and the 10.1 percent rise in government-insured lending. The home-equity market showed...[Includes two data charts]

The FHA Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund has improved from a negative position to a positive $4.8 billion in FY 2014 after gaining nearly $6 billion in value over the last year, thanks to aggressive policy actions that led to improvements in key areas, according to an independent actuarial report sent to Congress this week. Overall, the fund showed a $21 billion improvement over the past two years due to changes the FHA implemented following the housing crisis, the report said. The changes led to improved underwriting standards for single-family mortgages, increased mortgage insurance premiums, stronger loss mitigation policies and higher recoveries, it noted. Aggressive policy actions also led...

A careful examination of the big-ticket enforcement actions the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has brought against leading mortgage servicers can help others in the space avoid the same fate and protect their bottom lines, according to top industry legal experts. During an Inside Mortgage Finance webinar earlier this week, Allyson Baker, a former CFPB attorney and partner at the Venable law firm in Washington, DC, discussed the importance of trends seen in a handful of servicing enforcement cases against Ocwen, SunTrust Bank and Flagstar Bank. “I think...

First-time homebuyers could benefit from mortgages with downpayment requirements as low as 3.0 percent, but high fees on such products tend to limit their originations, according to qualitative survey results from the latest Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse Tracking Survey. The government-sponsored enterprises are set to roll out products that allow combined loan-to-value ratios as high as 97.0 percent, competing with the 96.5 percent combined LTV ratio limit for certain purchase mortgages guaranteed by the FHA. In recent years, the GSEs generally have allowed for combined LTV ratios as high as 95.0 percent. “Agents commonly believe...

Wells Fargo is not expected to take new bids – at least anytime soon – on a highly delinquent $39 billion non-agency servicing portfolio that Ocwen Financial failed to buy because of all the regulatory scrutiny the nonbank is facing. However, servicing advisors who have seen some of the details on the portfolio contend that Wells may eventually try to unload the package next year, but is by no means under the gun to do so. “One thing you have to keep in mind is...