Closing times for purchase mortgages are starting to recover from delays tied to the TRID disclosure rule, according to results from the latest Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse Tracking Survey. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s final rule combining disclosure requirements of the Truth in Lending Act and the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act took effect in early October. Average closing times for various mortgage types increased in the following months, though performance has improved recently, according to HousingPulse. For example, the original closing time for purchase mortgages with a downpayment of at least 20 percent where the loan will be delivered to the government-sponsored enterprises was...

When interest rates take an unexpected dive – as they did in the first quarter – it can wreak havoc on servicing assets as banks and nonbanks try to calculate a fair market value for their residential receivables. According to interviews conducted by Inside Mortgage Finance and based on a compilation of values by Piper Jaffray, certain megabanks assigned some of the lowest values in years to their portfolios during the first quarter of this year. Bank of America, for instance, which usually ranks third among all servicers, assigned...[Includes one data table]

Freedom Mortgage Corp. has agreed to pay the federal government $113 million to resolve alleged violations of the federal False Claims Act and FHA requirements in connection with the origination of FHA-insured single-family mortgages. The April 15 settlement agreement between the New Jersey-based mortgage lender and the Department of Justice comes in the wake of a record $1.2 billion settlement between DOJ and Wells Fargo, which earlier admitted to false certification of defective mortgages for FHA insurance and failure to file timely reports on several thousand loans that were materially defective or badly underwritten. Like Wells Fargo, Freedom Mortgage failed...

For mortgage bankers, it was another trying week in TRID purgatory: A mid-sized nonbank exited the correspondent jumbo market because of concerns over legal liability and separately it appeared industry trade groups have given up hope that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will issue any type of formal guidance on cures. Meanwhile, the TRID scratch-and-dent market continues to hum along and the consumer watchdog agency has begun examining residential lenders for compliance with the integrated disclosure rule. “TRID exams have commenced...

The evolutionary flow of the slow-growing agency mortgage servicing market continued in the first quarter of 2016 as many of the big names peeled back and fast-growers kept growing, according to a new analysis and ranking by Inside Mortgage Finance. Overall, the agency MSR space expanded by a meager 0.2 percent during the first three months of 2016. Slow growth is typical of heavier refinance periods, and refi business at Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae was up a combined 1.9 percent from the fourth quarter. Although purchase mortgages accounted for half of the first-quarter market, the volume of such loans securitized by the three agencies was down 12.6 percent from the previous period. Ginnie continued...[Includes two data tables]

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First Republic, which lends to the affluent, earned $148.87 million in the first quarter of 2016, up 6.3 percent from the previous period...

Former CFPB enforcement attorney Jennifer Lee said the Circuit Court was hostile towards the CFPB’s arguments on statute of limitations, separation of powers, constitutionality of the agency and more...

NAR voiced its dismay that some mortgage bankers are making it difficult for Realtors to obtain a copy of the closing disclosure form or CD...

Closing times are improving but not by leaps and bounds.