One problem with the (latest) refi boom ending is that some loan officers working at net branches start getting nervous and begin seeking better product menus elsewhere...
Americans were too busy refinancing and shoveling snow to get new home-equity loans during the first quarter of 2015, a new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis reveals. Mortgage lenders did an estimated $19.5 billion of home-equity lending during the first three months of 2015, based on new commitments for home-equity lines of credit – by far the most active part of the HEL market – plus originations of closed-end seconds. That was down 7.1 percent from the fourth quarter of last year. Despite the slowdown in the first quarter, home-equity production was...[Includes three data tables]
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau threw the book at PHH Corp. over its captive reinsurance activities, refuting a handful of court rulings, an administrative letter from the Department of Housing and Urban Development and several points made by an administrative law judge. CFPB Director Richard Cordray overrode a $6.4 million penalty set by an ALJ in the matter and ordered PHH to pay $109.2 million – all the mortgage insurance premiums it received from its captive reinsurer, Atrium, after July 2008, regardless of when the loan was originated. July 2008 was...
The FHA expects to finalize the proposed rule in August of this year, according to HUD’s new regulatory agenda, although the agency rarely comes close to its projected rulemaking timelines.
Refinance lending fueled the growth in mortgage originations during the first quarter of 2015, although new data suggest that the purchase-mortgage sector is taking hold. Mortgage lenders originated an estimated $221.0 billion of refi loans during the first quarter, an increase of 51.4 percent from a revised fourth-quarter production estimate of $146.0 billion. Inside Mortgage Finance refi and purchase-mortgage estimates for all four quarters of 2014 were revised to reflect just first-lien mortgage originations. Refi loans accounted...[Includes three data tables]
The Department of Housing and Urban Development is working on a new proposed rule to ease the backlog in FHA insurance claims filings as well as to revise the department’s “curtailment of interest” policy to relieve the burden on mortgagees. The FHA expects to finalize the proposed rule in August this year, according to HUD’s new regulatory agenda, although the agency rarely comes even close to its projected rulemaking timelines. Specifically, the proposed rule would establish...