The CFPB recently released some non-binding policy guidance on early compliance with the 2016 amendments to its 2013 mortgage servicing rules, including a three-day grace period. Each of the changes are scheduled to take effect on either Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017, or Thursday, April 19, 2018. This is a problem for mortgage servicers who face the very real prospect of operating under one set of rules one day and having to switch systems, policies and procedures to comply with another set of rules the very next day. The regulator acknowledged this was an issue and decided to give the industry what amounts to a three-day grace period. “The bureau has heard concerns that these midweek effective dates for the 2016 ...

We haven’t see a whole lot of servicing auction notices the past two weeks...

An expert in the commercial real estate debt market is calling on industry participants to “reset the business to where it used to be” to stop the commercial MBS market from shrinking any further. In a recent blog, Rick Jones, partner and co-chair of Dechert’s finance and real estate practice, noted CRE securitization, or at least the conduit part of the business, continues to dwindle. It has fallen from $800 billion in outstanding principal balance in 2007 to approximately $400 billion currently, with a run rate of about $50 billion annually. The downward trend is...

The goal of the collaborative: to produce research papers that will lay the groundwork for policy recommendations over the next two years…

An “excess” servicing deal tied to $117.0 billion of mortgage servicing rights between New Residential Investment Corp. and Ocwen Financial appears to be dragging on longer than expected, causing anxiety in some circles. The transaction – which changes the fees paid to Ocwen resulting in a short-term (gross) gain of $425 million – was unveiled on May 1 and has yet to close. Piper Jaffray analyst Kevin Barker and his team write in a recent report that the deal was slated to be ...

Nationstar Mortgage has moved its offshore call centers back to the U.S. to improve service to customers, particularly those who prefer to deal with domestic company representatives. The Dallas-based nonbank described the move as part of its two-year plan to become more customer-centric and provide more personalized service to its more than 3 million customers. The shift starts with rebranding, which appears designed to create the impression that the customer is dealing with ...

As much as the False Claims Act has been a formidable government enforcement tool against FHA loan originators, the statute is also being used increasingly against mortgage servicers, according to compliance experts. Within the last 18 months, the DOJ has expanded FCA use to reverse mortgages and loan servicing, according to Phil Schulman and Krista Cooley, both partners in Mayer Brown’s Washington office and members of the firm’s Consumer Financial Services group, during a recent podcast. While the Department of Justice has consistently used the FCA and its treble-damage provision to enforce FHA loan origination rules, the economic downturn and foreclosure crisis has put...

Over the past 18 months or so, the DOJ has expanded FCA use to reverse mortgages and loan servicing, according to attorneys Phil Schulman and Kristie Kully…

Rep. Luetkemeyer stresses that housing finance reform is a “very difficult” issue…

New applications from issuer-wannabees is at the lowest point in nearly eight years, the agency estimates.