Congress has no need to enact additional legislation to impose tough loss-mitigation standards on servicers and owners of securitized residential mortgage loans for the benefit of consumers. The CFPB’s mortgage servicing regulation thoroughly covers all related issues in this regard, according to a leading industry attorney. Larry Platt, a consumer finance lawyer at the global law firm K&L Gates, LLP, appeared late last month in a personal capacity before the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee to discuss the Housing...
Ocwen Financial posted record revenues in the third quarter of 2013 that could have been even higher if not for unexpected delays in boarding $42.0 billion in unpaid principal balance on non-agency mortgages from OneWest Bank. Officials at Ocwen wouldn’t reveal the exact cause of the delay. The loans were in non-agency mortgage-backed securities issued by IndyMac, which was taken over by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. in 2008 and sold by the FDIC to OneWest in 2009. Ocwen officials said delays ...
Ginnie Mae remains a very good profit center for MBS issuers and investors, making government-backed lending appealing and beneficial to consumers, according to securitization experts. Government loans offer great value to lenders because they cover broader borrower eligibility than conventional loan products and lenders can execute more efficiently, said panelists at the Mortgage Bankers Association’s annual conference this week. The discussion focused on government loan programs – FHA, VA and Rural Housing Service – and on execution options for the loans and their mortgage servicing rights (MSRs). CMG Financial has found...
Financial industry trade groups want all Title II forward mortgage loans that meet FHA requirements to be treated as “safe harbor” qualified mortgage loans instead of being lumped in either of two QM buckets as proposed by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Commenting on HUD’s proposed definition of a “qualified mortgage,” the industry groups – Mortgage Bankers Association, Consumer Bankers Association, Consumer Mortgage Coalition, American Bankers Association, and the Independent Community Bankers of America – urged HUD to ...
Proposed options for adjusting FHA products, market presence and powers could have a direct effect on the availability of credit for borrowers and on the FHA’s ability to respond to changing market conditions, according to a new study by the Government Accountability Office. In certain instances, the recommended changes would entail tradeoffs – a downside for every upside. Industry participants, researchers and the FHA have suggested these options to improve FHA’s long-term viability or for shrinking the agency’s footprint in the mortgage market. The GAO undertook the study to determine ...
The Department of Housing and Urban Development may not be raising FHA mortgage insurance premiums for a while for fear that further aggressive pricing could shut out traditional and first-time homebuyers. In testimony before the House Financial Services Committee this week, FHA Commissioner Carol Galante warned that, with interest rates rising, the FHA may have reached a “tipping point” with its mortgage insurance premiums and that it may be time to pull back and ponder the next move. “As we continue to seek a balance between strengthening the [Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund] and ensuring access to credit, we must ...
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