Mortgage origination fees and third-party fees increased in the past year, according to a new survey by Bankrate.

Essex Bank launched a wholesale group while Live Well Financial plans to hire more than 300 loan officers.

Mortgage lenders are getting weary of the seemingly never-ending supply of new regulations and proposals coming from the CFPB – with the latest being last month’s issuance of the bureau’s proposed rulemaking to ratchet up lender reporting requirements under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act. Lenders of all size are concerned that the proposal goes beyond what is mandated by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and means increased compliance costs that will be passed onto consumers. And representatives of smaller institutions fear they will once again be set at a competitive disadvantage vis-à-vis larger lenders. Additionally, consumer data privacy considerations have emerged as another concern. The bureau, for its part, pitched the proposal as a way to improve ...

The CFPB and 25 states filed amicus briefs in a case pending before the Supreme Court of the United States, Jesinoski v. Countrywide Home Loans Inc., that could resolve a circuit split over the recession of a mortgage under the Truth in Lending Act. The Truth in Lending Act provides that a borrower “shall have the right to rescind the transaction until midnight of the third business day following ... the delivery of the information and rescission forms required under this section ... by notifying the creditor ... of his intention to do so.” TILA further creates a time limit for the exercise of this right, providing that the borrower’s “right of rescission shall expire three years after the date ...

Another CFPB Official Heads for the Private Sector. CFPB Enforcement Attorney Manuel Alvarez has been hired away by Affirm, a young financial services company based in San Francisco, to be its first chief compliance officer and general counsel. In his new role at Affirm, Alvarez will oversee and manage the company’s regulatory compliance program and related actives to prevent illegal, unfair or deceptive conduct. He will also take charge of the firm’s working relationships with regulators and Affirm’s service providers. “Consumers often don’t understand the fees or interest they pay on a revolving account. That has to change,” said Alvarez. “Affirm’s commitment to delivering honest and transparent financial products totally aligns with my long-standing commitment to consumer protection.” Alvarez was ...

FHA violations were related to lender approval, loan origination and mortgage servicing practices.

At the midway point this year, agency multifamily issuance was off 36.9 percent from the first half of 2013, and production was essentially flat in the second quarter.

The immediate future is looking mostly bright for publicly-traded real estate investment trusts that toil in the commercial real estate sector – that is, as long as origination volumes remain healthy. Several high-profile commercial REITs – including Starwood Property Trust, Colony Financial and Ladder Capital – do not report second quarter results until next week, but hopes are high that earnings will be mostly positive. One commercial REIT that did report this week was...

Next week, Nationstar Mortgage reports its second quarter results. If the company misses the targets set by investment bankers, it could be a blood bath…

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau recently proposed a significant expansion of the loan features lenders would need to report under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act. The CFPB said the new data will help gauge whether regulations meant to limit originations of “risky mortgage products” have been effective. The federal regulator is seeking new disclosures regarding credit scores, debt-to-income ratios, qualified mortgage status and loan type, among many ...