A new final rule from the Department of Housing and Urban Development may make it harder for lenders to defend against allegations of racially discriminatory policies and even more difficult to structure an effective compliance program under the Fair Housing Act, according to legal experts. Issued last week, the rule provides that HUD or a private plaintiff can establish a so-called disparate-impact liability under the FHAct, even if there is no intent to discriminate. The agency said the rule establishes no new law – since HUD and appellate courts have upheld the disparate impact theory in fair housing cases for decades – and aims to standardize the minor variations for determining liability under the statute. The rule establishes...
Lenders feeling oppressed by the onslaught of new mortgage regulations going into effect in January 2014 may have an unlikely ally: the agency that unleashed all the new rules. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau this week announced several initiatives to help lenders comply with the new ability-to-repay and mortgage servicing rules, two of the most complex and far-reaching regulations. The agency said it will publish...
Ever since Taylor Bean & Whitaker went down in flames a few years ago, the market for loans backed by mortgage servicing rights has been dormant with the nation’s largest banks pulling out of the business and vowing never to return. But now that MSRs are considered a “hot” investment with nonbanks such as Nationstar Mortgage, Ocwen Financial and Walter Investment Management gobbling up billions of dollars in receivables the past few years – and at bargain basement prices – banks, Wall Street firms, and other players are eyeing the market for a major comeback. According to servicing advisors and warehouse firms, there are...
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced this week that it will closely scrutinize servicing transfers due to complaints from borrowers tied to a recent increase in servicing sales. The federal regulator published CFPB Bulletin 2013-01 this week detailing the new oversight standards, with an emphasis on loss mitigation issues. “The CFPB has particular concerns related to servicing transfers that arise from consumer complaints and supervisory work related to servicing transfers,” the federal regulator said. “Among other complaints, consumers have complained about service interruptions when their loans are transferred during the loss mitigation process.” The problems are related...
PMI Mortgage Insurance Co. may be out of the mortgage insurance business, but its surviving MI subsidiary, CMG Mortgage Insurance Co., will continue providing MI to credit unions under new management beginning in 2014. Last week, Arch Capital Group, a Bermuda-based provider of insurance and reinsurance, announced an agreement to acquire CMG MI from PMI Mortgage Insurance, as well as the latter’s operating platform and related assets. PMI is currently in rehabilitation and has been under the receivership of the Arizona Department of Insurance since 2011 after failing to meet statutory capital requirements. The transaction will not only allow...
Private mortgage insurers in 2012 posted their best year since the financial market collapse back in 2008 and suddenly – after being largely left as roadkill in the government’s bailout program – are attracting new capital. Private MIs reported $174.81 billion in total new insurance written in 2012, more than doubling the amount of business they did the year before, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance ranking and analysis. With the FHA and VA programs growing at a more deliberate pace, it boosted the private MI share of the primary mortgage insurance market to 32.0 percent, up from 22.7 percent in 2011. A significant part of the private MI rebound came...[Includes three data charts]
Joe Anderson, who worked at Countrywide Financial Corp. for 17 years and then Nationstar, is considered the top candidate to get the CEO job at Vericrest Financial.
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