There is limited good news to report for lenders in terms of industry efforts to secure regulatory relief from a variety of rules from the CFPB. Among the good news is that the transportation funding legislation that President Obama is expected to sign shortly includes language that will grant the CFPB greater flexibility to treat a balloon loan as a “qualified mortgage” if it was extended by a community bank or creditor operating in rural or underserved areas. Other language will institute a process for banks and other stakeholders to petition the bureau to designate an area as “rural” or “underserved” for the purposes of the CFPB’s ability-to-repay rule. Another provision will expand the bureau’s ability to exempt creditors serving ...

New foreclosure timeframes will become effective for all VA loan terminations completed on or after Jan. 4, 2016, according to a recent notice issued by the Department of Veterans Affairs. The notice provides a table of foreclosure timeframes – the number of calendar days required to complete a foreclosure – which the VA has determined to be reasonable and customary for all states. The timeframes are important in the calculation of the maximum interest payable on a foreclosure of a VA-guaranteed loan. The VA Home Loan Guaranty program offers a partial guaranty against loss to lenders who make home loans to veterans and active-duty military personnel. Agency regulations spell out the circumstances under which VA will pay loan-guaranty claims. Under VA rules, a guaranty claim can include unpaid interest for a period of up to 210 calendar days from the due date of the ...

State Mortgage Regulators Bring $10.2 Million Enforcement Action Against Prospect Mortgage. The Multi-State Mortgage Committee recently announced a $10.2 million settlement agreement and consent order between 50 state mortgage regulators and Prospect Mortgage over allegedly inappropriately assessed third-party settlement fees charged by an affiliate. According to the Conference of State Bank Supervisors and the American Association of Residential Mortgage Regulators, a multi-state examination performed by eight states revealed a pattern of charging improperly disclosed and unsupported fees paid to the company’s affiliate, C2C Appraisal Services. Under the terms of the agreement, Prospect is to pay restitution to every borrower in all participating states that was assessed a C2C Settlement Service Fee in the amount of $40 with interest of 10 ...

CFPB Attorney James Kim Joins DC Law Firm. James Kim, formerly a senior enforcement attorney with the CFPB, recently joined the Ballard Spahr law firm in its Washington, DC, office. “While at the CFPB, James led nationwide investigations involving consumer credit, mobile financial services, emerging payment systems, mortgage origination, and debt collection,” said new colleague Alan Kaplinsky, a partner at the law firm. “He was lead counsel in the CFPB’s first enforcement actions involving mobile payments and was a member of the credit card/prepaid card/emerging payments issue team that helped coordinate enforcement activity with other offices at the CFPB.” ...

Some investors won’t return to the non-agency MBS market until the federal government establishes minimum standards for issuers, according to Chris Katopis, executive director of the Association of Mortgage Investors. Speaking at the RMBS 3.0 symposium produced by Information Management Network and the Structured Finance Industry Group this month in New York, Katopis said investors are frustrated with the lack of action from the government to help the non-agency MBS market. “We know there’s a lot of work going on, but at some point the government has to set minimum standards,” he said.Katopis said investors are happy that SFIG is working on a new representation-and-warranty framework for non-agency MBS. However, the AMI is skeptical of voluntary industry standards. “Having ...

New York financial regulators have barred VA lender New Day Financial from doing any more business in the state for allegedly cheating on state-required continuing-education courses and examinations. The New York Department of Financial Services slapped the Fulton, MD-based lender (also doing business as New Day USA) with a $1 million fine and ordered it to surrender its mortgage banker’s license. The department accused top New Day executives as well as current and former employees of perpetrating an elaborate cheating scheme whereby compliance staffers took the required education courses and exams on behalf of senior managers and loan officers. According to state regulators, the cheating happened on numerous occasions and involved at least 20 New Day loan originators. The MLOs shared screen-shots of questions included in the National Multistate Licensing System and Registry (NMLSR) exams and ...

Menendez Introduces HAWK Amendment in T-HUD Appropriations Bill. The National Association of Realtors recently sent a thank-you note to Sen. Robert Menendez, D-NJ, for introducing an amendment to H.R. 2577, the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2016, to restore HUD’s authority to offer the Homeowners Armed with Knowledge (HAWK) program. Lawmakers who were concerned about the financial condition of the FHA Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund denied funding for the HAWK program last year in a continuing spending bill, effectively stalling the program for a year. The HAWK program is a key component of the FHA’s Blueprint for Access, which was designed to open up the credit box for underserved borrowers. Specifically, program participants will benefit from reductions in FHA premiums once they complete ...

The CFPB Office of Inspector General plans to complete one audit, two evaluations and two reviews of the bureau during the first quarter of 2016, according to the OIG’s latest work plan, released early this week. First on the list is an audit of the CFPB’s space-planning activities, largely in response to the bureau’s renovation of its headquarters building. “We will determine whether the CFPB has established adequate controls to properly manage its space needs and whether the CFPB is complying with applicable requirements,” the OIG said. Next is an evaluation of the CFPB’s coordination with external organizations to implement targeted consumer education. “We are assessing the effectiveness of the CFPB’s coordination with external organizations to implement consumer education efforts ...

Facing the possibility of a potential False Claims Act lawsuit, PHH Corp. is reconsidering its participation in the FHA mortgage insurance program. Though PHH’s FHA segment represents only 3 percent of its mortgage volume over the past 12 months, the company will proceed cautiously as it evaluates the risk-adjusted return of FHA products and programs, said Glenn Messina, PHH president and chief executive.Ranked 50th among FHA lenders as of June 30, 2015, PHH expects more regulatory challenges in 2016 as well as rising compliance costs, said Messina during a third-quarter earnings call. In its latest quarterly filing, PHH disclosed receiving a subpoena from the inspector general of the Department of Housing and Urban Development for documents related to, among other things, FHA loan origination and underwriting practices. Like several other FHA lenders, PHH is ...

The Federal Home Loan Bank System is seeking to boost its share of government-backed lending and the Ginnie Mae market with a new servicing-release option for FHA, VA and rural housing mortgages that are sold into the Mortgage Partnership Finance program. The new feature adds to an existing servicing-retained execution in the MPF Government Mortgage-Backed Securities program. The current servicing-retained component requires participating lenders to service loans they originate and sell into the MPF conduit. The servicing-release option from Nationstar Mortgage, a top-10 mortgage servicer based in Dallas, will provide lenders with greater pricing flexibility so they can become more competitive in the communities they serve, said Matt Feldman, president of the Chicago FHLB. Only FHLBank members that are participants in MPF can use the government MBS program. In order to ...