An analysis by the Mortgage Bankers Association of the CFPB’s latest foray back into the enforcement of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act noted that some of the allegations in the consent orders would have been troubling under the enforcement regime of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.However, the orders also highlight several new points in the way the bureau is enforcing Section 8 of RESPA, the MBA said. “These include that the arrangements steer consumers, exclude other competitors, and were arrived at based on internal analyses of business and that click-throughs to lenders in joint marketing arrangements somehow amount to compensated referrals,” the trade group said. Further, the consent order addressing Planet Home Lending also clarifies that ...
PHH Corp. won another round against some new antagonists in its dispute with the CFPB over alleged violations of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act. Earlier this month, a three-judge panel of the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit agreed with the lender and refused to allow three separate efforts to intervene in the case. In a simple, single-page order, the three judges “ordered that the motions be denied.” The ruling affects an effort by Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-OH, and Rep. Maxine Waters, D-CA, to insert themselves in the case on behalf of the CFPB. The lawmakers had warned the appeals court that if their effort to intervene was denied, they would seek recourse from ...
One month does not a trend make, but early indicators hint that mortgage lenders may be stretching the credit box to boost volume. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac issued $91.71 billion of single-family mortgage-backed securities in January, a stiff 18.3 percent drop from the previous month. Some of the decline was the result of Fannie’s heavy volume in December, when its business flow was catching up from an unusually slow November. But mortgage interest rates have edged up, and there is widespread expectation in the industry that refinance volume in 2017 will drop sharply from last year. Higher rates could also tarnish a housing market that’s bumping up against affordability and supply issues.
Mortgage lenders that deliver loans to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage-backed securities continued to do gradually more business with borrowers with lower credit scores, according to an exclusive new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of MBS data. In 2016, 21.4 percent of purchase mortgages securitized by the two government-sponsored enterprises had credit scores ranging from 620 to 699. That was up from 20.6 percent in 2015 and 20.5 percent ... [Includes two data charts]
Lenders looking for originations as interest rates increase will likely have to put an emphasis on purchase mortgages. Seasoned loan originators with a track record of purchase-mortgage volume can help with that strategy, though retaining such LOs can be difficult because they are in demand. Matt Lind, a senior partner at Strategic Mortgage Finance Group, an advisory firm, noted that LOs often switch lenders, lured by incentives and higher compensation. He said nearly 60 percent of ...
Staying on top of the multitude of documents involved in the process of originating a mortgage can help lenders avoid regulatory issues and increase returns, according to an analysis by Nationwide Title Clearing. The mortgage research and document-processing service provider detailed a number of issues with the so-called trailing-document process in a recent update to a white paper initially published in 2014. NTC said the white paper on document tracking and organization ...
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