The ability-to-repay rule from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will not have a negative impact on First Republic Bank’s originations of interest-only mortgages, according to James Herbert, chairman and CEO of the bank. Officials at Redwood Trust also said the rule is unlikely to impact its acquisition and securitization of IOs. If anything, First Republic’s Herbert said the new rule from the CFPB, which included harsher treatment for IO originations beginning in 2014, could help increase ...
Federal regulators said they are nearly finished writing the final rule on risk retention in non-agency mortgage securitizations, including a revised definition for qualified residential mortgages. Issuance of the rule was delayed until the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finished its ability-to-repay rule which set standards for qualified mortgages. “QM coming out really now does allow us to finish it,” Federal Reserve Governor Daniel Tarullo said of the risk-retention rule ...
Federal regulators are under pressure from Congress and others to bring more mortgage-related lawsuits, particularly involving “Wall Street banks.” Obama administration officials and former employees of the regulators suggest that more lawsuits are likely, including a focus on non-agency mortgage-backed securities. The latest calls for lawsuits came last week from Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-MA. At a hearing by the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, she questioned how much ...
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will closely monitor sales of servicing, particularly to nonbanks, and require new contingency plans from servicers, the agency announced last week. The new scrutiny was prompted by complaints from borrowers as nonbank special servicers have increased their purchases of servicing in recent years. “The CFPB will, in appropriate cases, require servicers engaged in significant servicing transfers to prepare and submit written plans to the CFPB detailing how they will ...
The Treasury Department approved $10.0 million in federal funds this month for a limited pilot of a program to allow non-agency borrowers with negative equity to refinance. The program in Oregon’s Multnomah County includes characteristics of a proposal from Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-OR, who said the pilot could create a national model. The Oregon Housing and Community Services Department will use money from the Hardest Hit Fund to help non-agency mortgages with loan balances up to $250,000 and ... [Includes one brief]
House Republicans may be able to pass tough FHA reform and solvency legislation out of committee but they may not have enough votes on the House floor or in the Senate to sustain such a bill, according to industry sources. Even after two successive hearings in the House Financial Services Committee this month, there has been no clear indication from Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-TX, as to which proposals might go into a legislative package of FHA reforms. Hensarling is said to be operating “with a very strong hand,” and if it were up to him entirely, he would draft legislation that would contain some ...
Wells Fargo suffered a big legal setback after a federal judge denied its request to enforce a consent judgment under last year’s landmark $25 billion servicing settlement to prevent a New York lawsuit from proceeding. Judge Rosemary Collyer of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia rejected Wells Fargo’s argument that the new government suit filed in Manhattan district court was improper because it violated the consent judgment against Wells Fargo and flies in the face of the judgment’s “liability release” provision. Wells Fargo argued that the allegations in a civil mortgage fraud suit filed by ...
The VA is on pace in 2013 to shatter an old mortgage production record set in 1994, according to agency officials. Mike Frueh, director of the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Home Loan Guaranty Services, said the VA is “trending” to do just about 600,000 home loans even though the home buying-and-selling season, which typically kicks off in the spring, has not yet started. The last time the VA originated that many home loans was in 1994, a banner year for VA mortgage lending to veterans and active members of the military. FY 2012 became the second best year for VA loan originations with ...
A modest decline in FHA endorsements of jumbo loans in the fourth quarter of 2012 could presage further declines this year, following the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s recent proposal to raise the downpayment requirement to 5 percent, from 3.5 percent, for loans above $625,500. The FHA already has raised its jumbo mortgage insurance premiums to 1.55 percent annually and increased the monthly premiums on new, non-jumbo FHA mortgages by 10 basis points. The agency retained the 3.5 percent downpayment for new forward mortgages below $625,500. The increased premiums are ... [2 charts]
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