The recent letter from CFPB Director Richard Cordray to the Mortgage Bankers Association clarifying certain aspects of the bureau’s integrated disclosure rule has some important take-aways – and certain limitations – the industry should be mindful of, according to some top industry attorneys. In a recent online blog posting, attorneys Donald Lampe and Leonard Chanin of Morrison & Foerster LLP identified a handful of key take-aways for mortgage market participants related to the TRID rule. First, “If mortgage loan originators and others involved in the origination, financing and sales of mortgage loans are not familiar with the benefits of [specific] Know Before You Owe disclosure cure provisions, now is the time to assess them,” the attorneys began. They then noted that Cordray’s ...

Investors in non-agency U.S. residential mortgage-backed securities are unlikely to face much in the way of risk stemming from lender non-compliance with the new requirements of the CFPB’s integrated disclosure rule known as TRID, according to analysts at Fitch Ratings. “Although the frequency of non-compliance issues will likely be elevated initially as lenders implement the new changes, those non-compliance issues are not likely to translate into higher risk for bondholders,” the analysts said in a recent report. Their initial due diligence sampling of prime jumbo mortgages in the secondary market has revealed a high level of compliance issues thus far. However, most of them appear to be good-faith errors. The ratings service is continuing its discussions with market participants on ...

Issuers of MBS and ABS continue to address compliance issues with the Securities and Exchange Commission’s so-called Regulation AB2. Meanwhile, the Structured Finance Industry Group has urged the SEC to continue to delay further action on disclosure proposals that remain outstanding. In August 2014, the SEC published a final rule setting a variety of disclosure requirements for the structured finance market. Issuers of publicly registered MBS and ABS were required to comply with rules, forms and disclosures established by Reg AB2 by Nov. 23, 2015. Asset-level disclosure requirements will take effect Nov. 23 of this year. During a webinar hosted by the law firm of Mayer Brown late last week, Stuart Litwin, a partner at the law firm, said...

MBS backed by multifamily mortgage loans would be exempt from a proposed rule that would establish margining requirements for multifamily agency finance. Had it been implemented as originally proposed, the rule would have amended the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s Rule 4210 to establish margin requirements in the single-family “to-be-announced” (TBA) market. At the same time, it would have also scoped in the multifamily housing programs of Fannie Mae and FHA/Ginnie Mae, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. FINRA filed...

The first security backed by proceeds from properties that have “rent-to-own” agreements has caused some divergence among rating services. Home Partners of America is preparing to issue a $508.88 million deal, which received preliminary AAA ratings from two firms. Moody’s Investors Service and Morningstar Credit Ratings issued presale reports on Home Partners of America 2016-1 last week. Kroll Bond Rating Agency followed with a warning that rent-to-own deals present more risks than single-family rental securitizations. The collateral for the security is...

Nonbank institutions continued to expand their footprint in agency mortgage servicing rights last year, thanks to both their growing share of new originations and a hefty dose of MSR transfers, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance ranking and analysis. At the end of 2015, some $5.931 trillion of home mortgages were connected to mortgage-backed securities issued by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae. That was up a modest 0.8 percent from the same period back in 2014 and included a small 0.3 percent increase from the third to the fourth quarter of last year. These figures are based on agency MBS disclosures that typically vary slightly from aggregate data released by the three agencies. Nonbanks accounted...[Includes two data tables]

The servicing auction market experienced a flurry of deals at yearend 2015, but investors for the most part have been more cautious about what they’re willing to pay for mortgage servicing rights, given some of the large markdowns that damaged second- and third-quarter earnings. “A lot of investors got hurt by buying during the first half of last year,” said one MSR investor who spoke under the condition his name not be used. “A few of them aren’t bidding anymore.” During the first half of 2015, MSR buyers were willing...

New issuance of non-agency MBS rose smartly in 2015, nearly matching the highest annual production volume since the financial market meltdown back in 2007. Some $61.60 billion of non-agency MBS came to market last year, a solid 13.9 percent increase from 2014, according to Inside MBS & ABS. This figure does not include Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac credit risk-transfer deals – which attract traditional non-agency MBS credit investors but are ... [Includes three data charts]

The Internal Revenue Service recently provided guidance to an MBS trustee and master servicer confirming that a settlement with investors was compliant with requirements for real estate mortgage investment conduits. While Private Letter Ruling 201601005 applies only to the unidentified parties that sought the guidance from the IRS, industry attorneys suggest that the letter could be useful when structuring settlements with MBS investors. The letter was released ...

When the Federal Reserve hiked short-term rates back in mid-December, mortgage rates were expected to increase as well and keep heading north in the new year. But thanks to deep concerns about economic growth in China – not to mention plunging oil prices – all bets are now off. This past week, the price on the benchmark Fannie Mae 3.5 percent security increased by 44 basis points, according to figures compiled by MBS Quoteline. As Inside MBS & ABS went to press ...