Thanks to rising interest rates in the second half of 2017, sales of mortgage servicing rights boomed last year and, the way things stand today, 2018 could bring more of the same.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit last week saved PHH Mortgage and its parent more than $100 million when it sent the lender’s dispute with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau over issues related to the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act back to the bureau, basically starting over.
The Department of Veterans Affairs is directing lenders to provide early disclosures to help borrowers seeking an Interest Rate Reduction Refinance Loan determine whether they would actually benefit from the transaction and not end up victimized by a refinancing scam.
Affordable-housing groups are concerned a plan drafted by Sen. Bob Corker, R-TN, for reforming the housing-finance system threatens fair access to housing. They said the proposal has been developed with little or no input from affordable-housing advocates and civil rights groups, and it doesn’t offer enough support for affordable-housing goals.
The mortgage industry has another opportunity to help usher in some potentially dramatic differences in the way the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau goes about its business in the post-Richard Cordray era.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency Office of Inspector General took issue with the way Fannie Mae handles potential conflicts with its senior executive officers and wants the FHFA to pay closer attention to the problem.
Ongoing issues with the income-verification system at the Internal Revenue Service have prompted lenders to seek other options to verify the income of mortgage borrowers. In a new request to the Treasury Department, the Consumer Mortgage Coalition suggested that a database from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is a viable alternative to the IRS system.
Walter Investment Management Corp. had hoped to emerge from bankruptcy protection by the end of January, but now has a new problem on its hands: no CEO and no guidance on when it might actually have one. At press time, the revised target date to emerge from bankruptcy was Feb. 9.
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