If the CFPB thought that mandating a 43 percent debt-to-income ratio requirement for a residential mortgage, as seen in its ability-to-repay rule, would lower the odds of a borrower later going into default, it might want to think again. The JPMorgan Chase Institute recently reviewed more than 400,000 mortgage modifications that received payment reduction, principal reduction, or a combination of the two during the financial crisis, and came to the conclusion that payment reduction did a better job bringing relief to struggling homeowners than principal reduction. “Our data showed that for borrowers who were underwater, payment-focused mortgage debt reduction was more effective at slowing default than principal-focused mortgage debt reduction,” the institute said in a report last week. “In addition, ...
Speaking during a recent public appearance in Washington, DC, Mark Calabria, chief economist in the Executive Office of the Vice President, discussed the Trump administration’s priorities when it comes to regulatory reform, and the CFPB’s ability-to-repay rule was one of the items on the list. “Looking at the mortgage finance system as a whole is critical, as is reviewing the substantive rule-makings that came out of the Dodd-Frank Act,” said Calabria, former director of financial regulation studies at the libertarian Cato Institute in Washington, DC, and a former Capitol Hill staffer involved in drafting the framework for the conservatorships of government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. “We really did expand the regulatory framework with things like the qualified mortgage ...
A new report from the Office of the Inspector General of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. found that examiners in the agency’s Division of Depositor and Consumer Protection need to do a better and more consistent job of reviewing lenders’ compliance with the CFPB’s ability-to-repay and loan originator compensation rules. The ATR rule directed most mortgage lenders to make a reasonable and good-faith determination, at or before loan consummation, that a consumer would have a reasonable ability to repay a residential mortgage loan according to its terms. Some lenders and loan programs are exempt from this requirement. The LO comp rule placed limits on loan originator compensation and imposed new requirements on loan originators. Both rules took effect Jan. 10, 2014....
It’s Official: Cordray is Running for Governor in Ohio. After months of rumors and speculation, former CFPB Director Richard Cordray recently declared his candidacy for governor in his home state of Ohio. Although he faces at least four rivals for the Democrat nomination, at least one observer in the state considers him the instant favorite.... Mulvaney, Trump and Wells Fargo. Since Mick Mulvaney assumed the directorship of the CFPB, he has imposed a 30-day freeze on all new bureau regulations, and reportedly stopped all new contracting and all new lawsuits, has installed his aides into important positions at the agency, and temporarily froze all payments from the bureau’s civil penalty fund....
The statute requires the GSEs to serve three specific underserved markets: manufactured housing, affordable housing preservation, and rural housing by increasing secondary market liquidity...
Freddie Mac continued to expand its share of the GSE single-family business in November, following a strong showing the previous month, according to a new Inside The GSEs analysis of mortgage-backed securities data. The two GSEs guaranteed $79.09 billion in new single-family MBS last month, an unexpected 4.5 percent increase from October’s production. Freddie posted the biggest increase, 7.4 percent for the month, while Fannie issuance in November was up a more modest 2.0 percent. That pushed Freddie’s share of the GSE single-family MBS business to 47.0 percent, up from 45.7 percent in October, matching the company’s biggest market share since July 2015. Through the first nine months of 2017, Freddie managed to garner...
As the Federal Housing Finance Agency works to prepare the industry for the single security and common securitization platform, officials are keeping a close eye on consistency in prepayment speeds between Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The single security and CSP are on target for implementation in 2019, according to a new FHFA progress update released in December. In that report, the FHFA described in more detail the processes it has in place to minimize variance in prepayment speeds between Fannie and Freddie mortgage-backed securities that have the same coupon, maturity and issuance cohort.
The GSEs’ low downpayment programs are gaining some traction among first-time homebuyers. According to an analysis by Inside The GSEs, 97 percent loan-to-value mortgages now represent close to 15 percent of first-time homebuyer mortgages sold to the GSEs. The high LTV programs have grown gradually, but steadily, since they were introduced. But they were slow to catch on. By the end of 2015, the high LTV programs represented 5 percent of the FTHB market, which grew to nearly 10 percent at the end of last year. They represented approximately 14 percent of first-timer mortgages in the third quarter of 2017. The top three banks originating these low downpayment loans are...
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