Late last week, the CFPB released updates to its exam procedures in connection with the new mortgage regulations issued in January 2013 and amended through Oct. 15, 2013. The updates offer financial institutions and other industry participants valuable guidance on how the bureau will conduct examinations for compliance with the Truth in Lending Act and the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, the agency said. The bureau updated the supervision manual to reflect the renumbering of the consumer financial protection regulations for...

Bureau Faults Financial Services Providers Over Educational Expenditures. A new study from the CFPB claims that the financial services industry spends 25 times as much money annually on marketing financial products and services to consumers each year than on financial education – $17 billion versus $670 million, respectively. According to the bureau’s modeling methodology, that shakes out to about $54 on marketing versus $2 on financial education per person per year. Richard Hunt, president and CEO of the Consumer Bankers...

Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae still provide most of the funding for home loans originated in 2013, but the non-agency sector has been making a stealthy comeback, according to a new analysis and ranking by Inside Mortgage Finance. Conventional-conforming loan production declined by 24.5 percent from the second quarter of 2013 to the third quarter, dropping to an estimated $275.0 billion. Although that still accounted for 59.8 percent of total production for the period, it was the lowest quarterly volume in conventional-conforming lending since the third quarter of 2011. Government-insured lending continued...[Includes two data charts]

The Department of Housing and Urban Development expects to issue the long-anticipated FHA FY 2013 independent review of the state of the FHA’s Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund on or before the middle of December. The report’s release was delayed due to the three-week government shutdown in October.

The once deadlocked, but now all-but-certain, confirmation of Rep. Mel Watt, D-NC, to be the new director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency has left industry observers uncertain as to the continued policy direction of the FHFA.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency this week announced 2014 conforming loan limits for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that are unchanged from those currently in place, but it’s unclear whether the agency still intends to direct the government-sponsored enterprises to set lower limits. The agency cited statutory requirements of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 that require changes in the baseline loan limit, $417,000, based on the movement of house prices. Al-though house prices have risen over the past year, the FHFA said, they still haven’t made up all the decline since the housing market tanked in 2007. In the third quarter of 2013, the FHFA house price index was...

After a few weeks of drought in the servicing auction market, a handful of new portfolios are hitting the circuit as sellers try to bolster earnings before year-end. “Buyers haven’t had much new to look at lately, but that’s changing,” said Tom Piercy, managing member of Interactive Mortgage Advisors, Denver. “I think sellers are a little concerned about the new origination forecast for next year from the [Mortgage Bankers Association] and they are thinking they should convert some of their assets to cash.” The MBA last month projected...

The Federal Housing Finance Agency needs to be more hands-on and engaged with additional resources to best oversee Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the 12 Federal Home Loan Banks, according to the agency’s inspector general. In its semi-annual report to Congress, the FHFA IG noted “recurring oversight issues that policymakers may want to consider as part of reforming the secondary mortgage market.” “The recent housing crisis has shown...

A closer look at the new integrated mortgage-disclosure rule issued last week by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau reveals a handful of important changes made to the rule itself, while the forms have undergone only modest revisions. The first important change to the final rule is a mandatory three-business-day waiting period between the time the lender provides the closing disclosure and the closing itself. “By providing the closing disclosure three days before closing, consumers can review their final loan terms and costs in an unpressured environment rather than at the closing table,” the bureau said. “This allows consumers time to confirm they are getting what they expected.” It also will give...

Loan modification trends have diverged in recent quarters, with activity in the Home Affordable Modification Program remaining strong while the use of proprietary loan mods dropping significantly. A total of 181,242 loan modifications were completed in the third quarter of 2013, according to Hope Now, a 22.1 percent decline compared with the third quarter of 2012. The decline was driven by proprietary loan mods, with 136,106 completed in the third quarter of 2013, a 26.7 percent reduction from a year ago. Some 45,136 permanent HAMP mods were completed...