A federal court in Texas has dismissed a disparate-impact lawsuit against the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs, finding, after years of litigation, that the plaintiff had failed to show sufficient reason for a charge of unlawful discrimination under the Fair Housing Act. The recent decision in The Inclusive Communities Project, Inc. v. The Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs, et al., is the latest in a series of decisions applying the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that found disparate impact is a cognizable claim under the FHAct. The court’s Aug. 26 decision basically reaffirms...

Hundreds of industry participants have written to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to express their opposition to or support of the bureau’s attempt to resolve some of the ambiguity associated with its Truth in Lending Act/Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act Integrated Disclosure Rule. Title insurers say the CFPB missed a chance to fix a major problem: confusion about title premium charges. Real estate agents say the bureau is making things better for consumers by allowing lenders to share disclosures. One title insurance professional noted...

The near-zero default rate seen on mortgages originated in recent years combined with lenders’ extensive underwriting processes provide “clear evidence” that lenders should loosen underwriting standards, according to Laurie Goodman, director of the Urban Institute’s Housing Finance Policy Center. Wells Fargo originated more than 2.10 million conventional conforming mortgages between 2011 and the end of the first quarter of 2016. Only 4,082 of them became 60+ days past due in the first 24 months after origination, according to Moody’s Investors Service. Goodman said...

After a difficult year so far, sales of mortgage servicing rights are beginning to pick up a head of steam this fall with the hope that the fourth quarter could turn out be a barn-burner. According to interviews conducted by Inside Mortgage Finance this week, servicing advisors for the most part are feeling mildly optimistic about the final three months of the year, although they all admit the obvious: an unexpected drop in rates could spoil the party. But that may not...

Mortgage warehouse providers ended the second quarter with $55.0 billion of commitments on their books, a 10.0 percent sequential improvement in a red-hot origination market, according to survey figures compiled by Inside Mortgage Finance. Compared to the same period a year earlier, commitment volumes were up 12.2 percent. But the real story was in lines drawn and “average outstandings,” which rose substantially. At Southwest Bank, for example, its commitment level increased...[Includes one data table]

Originations of purchase-money mortgages jumped 44.3 percent from the first to the second quarter of 2016, without any sign of significant easing in underwriting standards. Mortgage lenders produced an estimated $267.0 billion of purchase loans during the second quarter, lifting year-to-date purchase originations to $452.0 billion, an 8.1 percent increase from the first half of last year. The refinance market still had...[Includes three data tables]

The largest chunk of collateral is located in Florida at 29.6 percent. Maryland is a distant second at 15.3 percent.

In the fourth quarter of last year, Walter/Ditech made a decision to exit the consumer retail channel, selling branches where possible and laying off staff.

UI’s Laurie Goodman said borrowers who took out mortgages in the past five years are better at paying their mortgages than any other group of mortgage borrowers in history.

Ocwen had a 24.2 percent error rate on a metric involving the timeliness of force-placed insurance notices, well above the 5.0 percent error rate allowed under the settlement…