LoanDepot more than doubled its ARM originations in that span, and large increases were also seen at Wells Fargo, Bank of America Home Loans, First Republic Bank and MUFG…
Social Finance, a former fintech darling, has been through the ringer of late: cofounder, CEO and “brain” Michael Cagney resigned midmonth amid sexual harassment allegations and other top executives have departed as well, raising questions about the company’s direction – and future. SoFi, as it’s known, was a “disruptor” of sorts in the financial services arena, refinancing student loans made to millennials at cheaper rates and then securitizing the paper. Over the past 18 months, the privately held startup has been...
Mortgage bankers will now have until June 25, 2018, to adopt new margin requirements under Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Rule 4210, instead of the previous date of Dec. 15, 2017, after the self-regulatory organization opted to give the industry six more months of lead time. Last week, FINRA announced it was filing the proposed extension with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which has to sign off on it. But given the non-controversial, industry-supported nature of the proposal, the SEC’s blessing is considered a formality. According to a summary by the Mortgage Bankers Association, the amendments institute...
The biggest challenge for the vibrant single-family rental market may be the shortage of available homes to purchase, according to panelists speaking at an Urban Institute event highlighting institutional investment in SFRs this week. And one analyst pointed to mid-sized investors as being best positioned to profit from the market. Since the financial crisis, SFRs have emerged as a viable housing option and real estate investment firms are seizing the opportunity. Both mom-and-pop operators and institutional investors have been buying homes of all sizes and offering them as rental properties. Prior to the crisis, there were...
Ginnie Mae’s inadequate response to the rapid increase of nonbank issuers may make it difficult for the agency to identify issuer problems in time to prevent default, warned the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s inspector general in a recent audit report. Specifically, the IG report said the agency failed to implement policies and procedures for managing issuers in a timely manner and tried to supervise them without a written default strategy. Furthermore, the report claimed Ginnie did not promptly assess and address the risks posed by nonbanks. Ginnie Mae questioned the findings, contending it “has done a more than credible job adapting to the new environment” despite the pressure on its resources. Ginnie’s issuer base had changed dramatically over the last couple of years as many banks either left or reduced their exposure in the FHA market for fear of being slapped with a ...
The Department of Housing and Urban Development has asked its inspector general for some leeway in making much needed changes to ensure servicers are employing loss mitigation. Responding to an audit, HUD asked the IG to modify some of the recommendations to enable the agency to make policy changes where needed and in a suitable format. HUD also requested that recommendations regarding indemnification and servicing be tweaked so that remedies will be required only when a deficiency is found. The IG audit was based on the result of an analysis, which showed that servicers may not be always evaluating delinquent FHA borrowers for loss mitigation as required and that HUD’s oversight in this area is weak. According to the findings, HUD did not have adequate controls to ensure that servicers of FHA-insured single-family loans properly engaged in ...