State attorneys general and officials at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau suggest that their settlement in December with Ocwen Financial doesn’t end their quest to reform the industry. “We are not out of the woods yet, and we will not be until all mortgage servicers understand that they must step up and toe the line,” said Richard Cordray, the director of the CFPB. The top five servicers have now agreed...

With a handful of pivotal mortgage lending and servicing rules from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau going live at the end of this week, industry representatives have been readying themselves to cross the threshold while not quite certain about how complete compliance is going to be or how much access to mortgage credit might be crimped. Of the four rules that kick in on Jan. 10 – those dealing with ability-to-repay/qualified mortgages, loan originator compensation, mortgage servicing, and high-cost mortgages – clearly the ATR rule continues to consume most of the oxygen in the room. One of the biggest points of uncertainty has to do...

The irony cannot be missed: the mortgage insurance sector is profitable again, but its trade group likely will fold.

However, a year-over-year look at the data shows a much poorer performance across the board, with overall grievances up 42 percent at Dec. 31, 2013, versus year-end 2012.

Among other things, Fitch sees the compliance/cost squeeze leading to a wave of industry consolidation in the mortgage servicing industry.

The sale was disclosed in a new SEC filing. The MSRs are backed by $10.8 billion of Ginnie Mae product.

One mortgage executive had this to say about the W.J. Bradley case: “This is fascinating for the implications of whether the LO or the company owns the customer. As you know, LOs have their little black books (or thumb drives) of all their customers and their information."

In fact, the ATR rule “does not require lenders to offer any specific type of mortgage,” the guide says. “Lenders can offer any mortgage they believe a consumer has the ability to repay, as long as they have documentation to back up their assessment.”

The CFPB and authorities in 49 states and the District of Columbia filed a proposed court order requiring the country’s largest nonbank mortgage loan servicer, Ocwen Financial Corp., and its subsidiary, Ocwen Loan Servicing, to provide $2 billion in principal reduction to underwater borrowers. The bureau said the consent order “addresses Ocwen’s systemic misconduct at every stage of the mortgage servicing process.” Ocwen also is required to refund $125 million to the nearly 185,000 borrowers who have already been foreclosed upon, the CFPB...

Chief among the focal points of discussion will be the bureau's new ability-to-repay/qualified mortgage rule, which establishes strong consumer protections that ensure qualified homebuyers have access to safe, affordable home loans they can pay back.