A new research report from analysts at Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services confirms earlier industry accounts that mortgage servicers are adapting to the CFPB’s newly implemented mortgage servicing rules, and that the rules are having the effects regulators intended. Back in 2013, S&P asked its ranked servicers to complete CFPB questionnaires as part of its semiannual Servicer Evaluation Analytical Methodology process. “We sent a questionnaire with our mid-year SEAM regarding compliance plans and readiness levels, and asked servicers to complete the questionnaires again after Jan. 10 [the implementation date of the new rules], to indicate their levels of compliance,” analysts at the ratings service said. The questionnaire included key areas of compliance: continuity of contact; dual-track foreclosure; servicing transfers; error...
Jumbo MBS issuers typically acquire their loans from a variety of sources. However, only three lenders contributed mortgages to each of the four jumbo MBS issued during the first quarter: Guaranteed Rate, PrimeLending and RPM Mortgage.
“The examiner-in-charge apparently thought that the owner was lying, and the CFPB now wants to question him under oath,” principal Joe Garrett writes in a note to his clients.
A steep 46.8 percent plunge in consumer complaints about loan modifications in the first quarter from year-ago levels fueled a 29.3 percent drop in overall gripes to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau from the same time last year, according to a new analysis by Inside the CFPB. Grievances about the loan application/mortgage origination process fell almost as much, down 26.7 percent, year over year. While mortgage-related complaints were down on a yearly basis, gripes regarding mortgages increased by 20.0 percent in the first quarter of 2014 compared with the previous quarter. Another key quarterly performance metric, grievances about servicing, trended up as well, increasing by 29.1 percent versus the period ending Dec. 31, 2013. [Includes two exclusive charts]...
Servicer-advance rates on vintage non-agency MBS have been up and down in recent quarters, showing further variances based on the servicer and issuer. The fluctuations have made it difficult to project valuations for certain securities, but industry analysts suggest that as mortgage performance continues to improve, servicer-advance rates will stabilize. The rate at which servicers advanced missed borrower payments on mortgages in non-agency MBS decreased slightly on a quarterly basis in the first quarter of 2014 after a gain the previous quarter, according to Fitch Ratings. Pooling and servicing agreements for non-agency MBS require servicers to continue making advance payments until the payments are deemed non-recoverable. Non-agency MBS values are...
Ginnie Mae has asked Bank of America to provide missing documents on government insured loan pools after being informed by the MBS custodian that key paperwork is missing from the files. According to industry advisors familiar with the matter, the missing documents are tied to an $8 billion mortgage-servicing sale from BofA to PennyMac. So far, both parties have declined to discuss the matter publicly. One observer noted...
In a development with potentially negative implications for lenders, servicers and investors in student loan ABS, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released a report this week critical of the “auto-default” practice seen in private student lending. According to the CFPB’s Mid-Year Update on Student Loan Complaints, borrowers say that some lenders demand immediate full repayment upon the death or bankruptcy of their loan co-signer, even in cases when the loan is current. Borrowers also said they confronted bureaucratic barriers to releasing co-signers from their loans, something that could help avoid auto-defaults. “Students often rely...
At one shop based in the Midwest there’s unconfirmed talk of loan officers who haven’t been paid for months, unpaid leases and top executives who were on vacation as volumes collapsed.
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