The trade groups argued that the interpretation that employees have a right under the NLRA to engage in class or collective litigation is “dubious at best.”
Wells Fargo fell a notch as PennyMac raced to the top to become the leading VA jumbo securitizer for the first quarter of 2017 – a period in which VA jumbo loan securitization took a sharp nose dive. The volume of VA jumbo loans securitized during the first three months plunged 36.8 percent, compared to the meager 2.0 percent decline seen in the fourth quarter. The drop reflected a 32.9 percent drop in jumbo mortgage production during the first quarter, along with similar large drops in virtually every product segment in the mortgage market, according to an analysis by Inside FHA/VA Lending affiliate Inside Mortgage Finance. The agency jumbo market was down 39.1 percent from the fourth quarter despite the bump up in high-cost loan limits to $636,150, an increase of $10,650 that became effective in January. All components of the agency jumbo market took big hits in the first quarter, including ... [ Charts ]
The Mortgage Bankers Association is calling for a moratorium on future claims against FHA lenders under the False Claims Act to give the Department of Housing and Urban Development sufficient time to streamline its defect taxonomy and revise its loan-level certification requirements. In letters to HUD and the Department of Justice, the MBA said the FHA has yet to issue clear standards identifying specific errors that could trigger an FCA claim and those that do not. FCA enforcement actions can result in very significant damage to a lender’s reputation and bottom line, warned Dave Stevens, MBA president and chief executive officer. Although FHA lenders work hard to ensure compliance with strict underwriting and documentation standards, origination, insurance and servicing depend heavily on human efforts, which could easily result in technical errors, he added. While lenders process ...
The chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee is looking into whether monies from mortgage-settlement funds were channeled to partisan advocacy and community organizations that Congress had previously defunded. In a recent letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-IA, revived a long-standing request by the committee for a list of all settlement agreements reached during the Obama administration that involved alleged payments to community groups. Grassley’s request came in the wake of Session’s June 7 directive prohibiting the DOJ from entering into any settlement agreements that provide for payment to third parties that were not directly harmed by the alleged misconduct. Sessions said the directive ends the previous administration’s practice of requiring or encouraging defendants to make payments to third parties as a condition of settlement. The directive would ...
The VA condominium-financing process can be difficult for both veteran borrowers and lenders, according to experts at a recent VA lender conference. The big issue for borrowers is finding a condo development that has VA approval or one that can obtain approval quickly enough to complete the loan process in the shortest time possible. A development that has a high number of foreclosures, a significant number of condo owners that are behind on their association dues, or pending litigation against the homeowner association is unlikely to win VA approval, experts said. Such factors could put the VA and the lender at risk. As such, securing VA approval for a development is crucial. In 2009, VA stopped accepting HUD/FHA condo project approvals in lieu of a VA project review, said Phyllis Chilton, valuation officer at VA’s Phoenix regional loan center. Condo projects that were accepted previously by ...
Issuance volumes in various MBS and ABS sectors are generally below pre-crisis levels and liquidity in the markets is adequate, according to an analysis by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. But the structured finance sector hasn’t flourished as the corporate bond market has in recent years, according to FINRA. The non-governmental regulator of broker-dealers based its analysis in part on data collected by its Trade Reporting and Compliance Engine, which tracks trades in a variety of asset classes. The analysis was completed by FINRA’s Office of the Chief Economist. “Market liquidity [for MBS and ABS] seems...[Includes one data table]
A Connecticut jury has found a former securities trader guilty and acquitted a second trader in an MBS fraud case brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission two years ago. A conspiracy charge against a third Nomura trader was unresolved. Although multiple charges were brought against the former traders – Michael Gramins, Ross Shapiro and Tyler Peters – only Gramins was found guilty of conspiracy, according to an analysis by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas of Houston. All three defendants were...
Bank and thrift holdings of first-lien mortgages took a relatively rare decline in the first quarter of 2017 as jumbo production stalled during the period, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. Banks and thrifts held a total of $1.93 trillion of first-lien residential mortgages in portfolio as of the end of March, down 0.1 percent from December 2016. The holdings have increased relatively steadily in recent years ... [Includes one data chart]
The adjustable-rate mortgage share of total originations increased in the first quarter of 2017 as some borrowers shifted to the product with interest rates projected to increase. An estimated $42.0 billion of ARMs were originated in the first quarter of 2017, according to Inside Mortgage Finance. While production was down by 23.6 percent from the previous quarter, total first-lien originations declined by 33.6 percent during that time ... [Includes one data chart]
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