The CFPB is providing certain “flexibility” to mortgage firms, but that doesn’t mean it has slacked off on supervision activities.

As the economic crisis precipitated by the coronavirus heats up, residential lenders have tightened their underwriting guidelines.

Mortgage servicers’ phone lines over the past few days have been inundated with calls from borrowers requesting forbearance.

The mortgage market remained unsettled as the coronavirus damaged the U.S. economy and lenders weighed their options. The Fed came to the rescue with liquidity measures but fears regarding nonbanks persist.

The bulk of lenders operating in the non-QM market have suspended production due to a lack of demand in the secondary market. There are some signs that originations could resume within weeks.

The servicing acquisition market often gets whipsawed by falling interest rates. But it now has a bigger enemy: financial uncertainty.

To reduce contact between appraisers and homeowners, the government-sponsored enterprises will accept an exterior-only inspection or a desktop appraisal. Income verification requirements have also been eased.

Proposed legislation in New York could reduce legal uncertainties and economic difficulties associated with moving legacy adjustable-rate mortgages away from the London Inter-Bank Offered Rate.

The closure of nonessential businesses to contain the spread of the coronavirus has affected mortgage loan closings in counties where recording offices have shuttered.

It was mortgage market Armageddon this week, courtesy of the corona-virus. Lenders were knee-deep in refis but fears mounted regarding an expected spike in delinquencies and about nonbank liquidity. The feds issued a foreclosure moratorium on government and GSE loans.