In a show of bipartisanship, work on reforms in the credit bureau industry kicked off this week, with legislation circulating and the House Financial Services Committee’s hearing testimony from CEOs of three major rating agencies.
This week, Mark Calabria moved a step closer to heading the Federal Housing Finance Agency. His nomination as the agency’s director was approved by the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs on a party-line vote of 13-12.
Do you trust your mortgage lender? This turns out to be a crucial question when it comes to persuading borrowers to refinance their homes, according to a paper by researchers at the Columbia Business School. The answer they got: Not so much.
Mortgage delinquency and foreclosure rates shrunk in the fourth quarter of 2018, helped by tight underwriting standards along with a strong economy and home price trends. [Includes one data chart.]
Warehouse lenders ended the year with $64.0 billion of commitments on their books, a modest 1.4% sequential decline and flat compared to the same period a year ago, according to survey figures compiled by Inside Mortgage Finance. [Includes one data chart.]
The one bright spot in the residential mortgage market last year was purchase-mortgage lending, which provided at least a faint glow in an otherwise dreary year for lenders. [Includes four data charts.]
Reports that Radian Group was in talks with private equity firms for a potential sale delivered a fillip to the company’s shares though those discussions fell through.
The Department of Veterans Affairs issued guidance on policies regarding cash-out refinancing loans on Feb. 15, the same day the rules were to become effective.
State regulators went on the offense last week, contending week contended that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau lacks authority to create a regulatory fintech sandbox.