CFPB chief Richard Cordray believes "the QM space has been drawn quite broadly" and estimates that more than 95 percent of the loans made in the current market will be deemed qualified mortgages.
According to figures compiled by Inside Mortgage Finance, the GSEs took in $16 billion from buybacks during the first six months of 2013. At the same time, lenders succeeded in getting $7 billion in repurchase requests withdrawn.
Rep. Maxine Waters, D-CA, announced an agreement to fix unintended consequences (significantly higher premiums) from the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act.
The law firm that pursued a nearly decade-long class-action fraud lawsuit on behalf of investors against Fannie Mae and their former auditor, KPMG LLP, until its settlement in May say they are entitled to a piece of the $153 million payout, plus expenses. In papers recently filed with the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia, the firm of Markovits, Stock & DeMarco of Cincinnati is seeking attorneys’ fees in the amount of $29.1 million or 22 percent of the settlement amount, plus $15.3 million in “out of pocket” expenses incurred in the nine years of pursuing the class action.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency moved this week to formalize an anti-fraud initiative it rolled out some 16 months ago that requires Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks to notify the agency forthwith of fraudulent activity by a GSE-associated individual or company. The interim final rule published in the Oct. 23 Federal Register generally codifies the procedures under the FHFA’s existing Suspended Counterparty Program, established in June 2012, with a request for public comment.
More than two years after it first filed its massive legal action against some of the nation’s largest financial institutions, the Federal Housing Finance Agency is demanding a high-cost exit fare before it will let two big banks off the hook. The FHFA reportedly is in separate talks with JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America to pay billions to quiet claims that the firms sold faulty mortgage-backed securities prior to the 2008 mortgage market meltdown. …
Countrywide Financial Corp. committed fraud when it sold questionable mortgages to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac prior to the financial crisis, a New York federal jury determined this week. Bank of America acquired CFC in 2008 and is liable for the fraud. The jury also found that Rebecca Mairone, a former chief operating officer for CFC’s subprime division, Full Spectrum, is liable for fraud for her role in leading its “Hustle” loan program, which was designed by Countrywide to speed up approvals for unqualified borrowers.
The ability-to-repay rule issued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in January would exclude more than one in five loans originated today from the full “safe harbor” legal protections for so-called qualified mortgages. That’s the chief finding of an analysis of August and September 2013 originations by ComplianceEase, a provider of risk management solutions based in Burlingame, CA. ComplianceAnalyzer, the firm’s patented automated compliance solution, is now capable of auditing loans for ...
Is Ed DeMarco unimpressed with Fannie and Freddie's return to profitability? “…we should keep the recent reports of positive net income in perspective,” he told the audience of the Bipartisan Policy Center this week. “Much of it has been related to one-time adjustments..."
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