As mortgage performance improves, the organization that administers the Homeowner’s Hope Hotline is putting an increased emphasis on helping people qualify for mortgage financing. The Homeownership Preservation Foundation has worked extensively with consumers who suffered problems during the financial crisis but could now be ready to purchase a home. “Boomerang borrowers represent opportunity,” David Berenbaum, the CEO of the Homeownership Preservation Foundation ...

In the new “Mortgage Professional’s Handbook,” residential finance technology expert Jeff Lebowitz predicts the industry “is about to exit its Victorian era of technology use."

Last week, the Securities and Exchange Commission provided new guidance, in a question and answer format, about certain programming changes to its online disclosure system that have been made to support recently adopted revisions to Regulation AB and new Exchange Act Rule 15Ga-2. More specifically, the guidance covers the procedures that a filer must use in the Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval (EDGAR) system that enable it to file a preliminary prospectus and to furnish Form ABS-15G, along with accompanying tables and third party due-diligence reports. It also addresses...

Suddenly, mortgage firms left and right are buying back common stock in the open market...

“I personally called their line. I didn’t see much difference, to be honest with you,” said Impac executive Joe Tomkinson.

RamQuest-eLynx Integration Enhances TRID Compliance with Automated Data Flow Between Lenders and Settlement Agents. Texas-based RamQuest, a provider of comprehensive title and settlement services solutions, and Ohio-based eLynx, a provider of on-demand web-based compliance services, recently announced a product/service synchronization to help lender and settlement agent clients comply with the CFPB’s integrated disclosure rule known as TRID. “The integration enables lenders utilizing eLynx’s Expedite ID compliance solution to exchange property, fee and loan data electronically with thousands of settlement service providers using RamQuest,” the companies said. “This bi-directional exchange of data simplifies the collaboration required for lenders to generate the Closing Disclosure mandated by the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure rule.” ...

Although lenders like to complain about the new integrated disclosure rule known as TRID, there has been one major benefit for people looking for employment in the mortgage industry: the controversial rule has created jobs at many lending shops. According to managers interviewed by Inside Mortgage Trends the past two weeks, almost across the board, originators have hired new staff to deal with compliance paperwork, the processes and the technology ...

A few days later, Ditech filed notice with the SEC that the company would pay Patti Cook a $300,000 bonus for her service to the company...

DocMagic Software Product Certified for TRID. DocMagic, a provider of document preparation, compliance, eSign and eDelivery solutions, recently received certification for its SmartCLOSE software product by the Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization, a nonprofit subsidiary of the Mortgage Bankers Association. Specifically, SmartCLOSE has been awarded what is known as a Standard Level Certification for the TILA/RESPA Integrated Disclosure (TRID) rule. According to the MBA, the objective behind SmartCLOSE is to bring lenders, settlement service providers, and other relevant entities together inside a secure environment to share, edit, validate, audit, track and collaborate on documents, data and fees. SmartCLOSE received Standard Level certification for MISMO Version 3.3 within the TRID business domain. “With the Uniform Mortgage Data Program (UMDP) quality initiatives ...

The mortgage lending industry is seeing a convergence of regulation, technology and demographics that is fueling a drive toward eMortgages, eDelivery and greater use of mobile devices and other technologies to simplify, digitize and speed up the mortgage process, according to Jeffrey Nuckols, senior vice president of Xerox Financial Services. On the regulatory front, most of the latest impetus, of course, has come from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s integrated disclosure ...