The CFPB likely removed a noticeable amount of political pressure – but not all – from its back by responding to some industry concerns with its earlier ability-to-repay final rule. Last week, the bureau finalized amendments to the ATR rule that expand the legal protections for small lenders to make loans beyond the original rule’s main requirements, and it provided such creditors with a longer period of time in which to adjust to the rule’s restrictions on balloon mortgages. Under last week’s final rule, the CFPB...

We continue to hear reports that certain commercial banks are discouraging their residential loan officers to take the state test and get licensed.

Speculators have been gobbling up GSE junior preferred and common, hoping for a payout down the road tied to either the resumption of dividends or money that might come from a recovery fund.

It looks like a sweet deal for Nationstar: Merrill Lynch helps sell its unsecured debt and then off loads some of its legacy MSRs to the nonbank.

Any successor to the GSEs that operates with a federal guarantee should charge the same guaranty fee price for all sellers, regardless of size, the trade group says.

The measure would amend the state constitution to authorize reverse mortgages for purchase of a homestead property in Texas.

Despite the vocal support of progressives, especially advocates of principal reduction of GSE-held loans, Rep. Watt’s nomination to head FHFA is far from a sure thing.

EverBank Financial is preparing to issue a $303.30 million non-agency jumbo mortgage-backed security, according to a presale report issued by DBRS this week. The MBS has similar characteristics to the $307 million jumbo security EverBank issued in March. DBRS cited strong reps and warrants on the deal, including automatic reviews for seriously delinquent loans, mandatory arbitration and no sunset provisions. However, the rating service said EverBank’s limited securitization history and ...

Lender Violated FHA’s ‘Outside Employment’ Rule. The Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of the Inspector General recommended action against a Las Vegas FHA lender for violating the agency’s rules on outside employment and timely quality control reviews. An OIG audit of All Western Mortgage, a former loan correspondent and current nonsupervised FHA lender, found that two of the company’s loan officers were allowed to moonlight as real estate agents. To their credit, the two loan officers originated just ...

A top official of the Department of Housing and Urban Development said the agency is as concerned as Congress and the industry about mortgages seized through the power of eminent domain and will not refinance any mortgage taken in this manner. Testifying at a recent hearing before the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance, Charles Coulter, deputy assistant secretary for housing, said FHA leadership is very much concerned about the idea of seizing troubled mortgages held in private-label securitizations under the power of ...