Mortgage bankers are promising to wage war over any new guaranty fee hikes that are used for non-residential projects.

The mortgage industry wants the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to clarify whether mortgages subject to repurchase demands will lose their “qualified mortgage” status under the bureau’s new ability-to-repay rule.

Milestone Advisors has picked a winning bidder for the MSR portfolio once owned by Taylor, Bean & Whitaker.

JPMorgan Chase will slash thousands of mortgage workers over the next 20 months.

According to a new analysis by Inside MBS & ABS, REIT MBS investors as a group increased their MBS holdings by 47.4 percent in 2012.

Federal regulators should consider aligning the pending risk retention rule’s “qualified residential mortgage” standard with the “qualified mortgage” standard under the ability‐to‐repay rule the CFPB finalized on Jan. 10, Federal Reserve Governor Daniel Tarullo said. Defining QRMs as QMs would eliminate the downpayment requirement initially proposed for QRMs and allow greater access to credit for borrowers than a more stringent QRM definition, he said at a Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee hearing on...

CFPB Remains on Radar of Hostile House GOP. The activities and influence of the CFPB will be a subject of keen interest to hostile Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee, according to the committee’s recently published agenda for the 113th Congress. The committee said it will scrutinize the CFPB’s regulatory, supervisory and enforcement initiatives to make sure they protect consumers against unfair and deceptive practices without stifling economic growth, job creation or reasonable access to credit. “In...

Some mortgage servicers face capacity issues when it comes to the plethora of new regulatory requirements and need outsource assistance, but the rest of the industry will need help with the process requirements and planning, according to a compliance service provider. “While all mortgage servicers are facing challenges in staying compliant with the industry’s many changing regulations, the nature of those challenges varies by the organization’s size and require varying solutions,” said Loren Morris, senior vice...

The CFPB’s new mortgage servicing rule might bring clarity and consistency to the industry – but at a cost of increased litigation and enforcement actions, a top attorney said recently. “There has been and will continue to be a focus on the fact that the rule grants borrowers a private right of action associated specifically with loss mitigation and early intervention provisions,” said Michael Waldron, a practice leader in the mortgage banking group at Ballard Spahr. However, the reality is, the risk here is much broader. “The rules...

The CFPB recently issued guidance to mortgage servicers reminding them of their legal obligations to protect borrowers during the transfer of mortgage servicing between firms. “Consumers should not be collateral damage in the mortgage servicing transfer process,” said CFPB Director Richard Cordray. “This guidance directs all mortgage servicers, both banks and nonbanks, to follow the laws protecting borrowers from the risks of such transfers and makes clear that we will be monitoring them for compliance.” In CFPB...