Compliance attorneys are urging mortgage lenders to reevaluate their lending policies and practices to ensure they are not biased against any protected groups even as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau warned about increased focus on fair lending and redlining in 2015. In their analysis of the CFPB’s recent report on fair lending, attorneys with the Washington, DC, law firm K&L Gates warned that the bureau will increase its scrutiny of mortgage lending amid growing concern about redlining, or refusal to lend to certain groups of borrowers or neighborhoods. Attorneys Melanie Brody and Anjali Garg said...
Mortgage servicing rights are playing an important role in how mortgage lenders finance their businesses, experts say, and a more balanced MSR market is expected this year despite persistent regulatory concerns and worries about high servicing costs. It was clear from a panel discussion at the Urban Institute this week that MSRs have grown in importance as a form of collateral and that it continues to divide lender/servicers and consumer advocates. Overall, six panelists agreed that certain reforms are needed if the market expects to thrive in the current environment. Stephen Fleming, senior vice president with Phoenix Capital, expects...