The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is putting together a group of small businesses related to the mortgage lending industry to brief them on the CFPB’s pending proposed rule on discount points and fees paid to mortgage originators and to gather initial industry input on the subject. Senior officials told the press this week they are assembling a panel per the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act, which requires the CFPB to convene a small business panel before rolling out regulations that the bureau expects to have a significant impact on a substantial number of small business...

Bank of America’s pending $8.5 billion settlement with non-agency MBS investors appeared to gather some momentum last week following a BofA-favorable ruling by a New York state court. New York State Supreme Court Justice Barbara Kapnick ruled the case will move forward under Article 77 rather than a broader plenary action sought by investors opposed to the amount of the settlement. The proposed settlement reached last June with 22 institutional investors would resolve BofA’s liability related to non-agency MBS issued by Countrywide. Supporters of the settlement, including the trustee, Bank of New York Mellon...

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is still mulling over accepting principal reduction payments from the Treasury Department even as the debate between the factions for and against GSE loan writedowns is quickly dissolving into a partisan food fight. This week, two ranking House Republicans urged FHFA Acting Director Edward DeMarco to stand fast against mounting political pressure directed at him by the Congressional allies of the Obama administration as House Democrats took the gloves off, accusing the Finance Agency of falsely withholding pertinent information about the agency’s principal reduction analysis.

Don’t expect the long-awaited White House plan to wind down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac “anytime soon,” an Obama administration official told lawmakers last week. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan told members of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee that the administration has made “significant” strides toward bringing private capital back into the housing market without help from Congress. However, the GSE overhaul promised for the first of the year needs more work, he said.

Even as the still-regenerating Home Affordable Refinance Program is already proving itself to be a boon for banks’ bottom lines, participants of an exclusive Inside Mortgage Finance webinar last week said so far there’s little indication borrowers are disadvantaged because there are currently fewer new lenders originating HARP 2.0 as same servicers. Since January, one month after the revised program took effect, lenders have reported intense interest and a more significant uptick in new refinance applications.

Total fair housing complaints continued to decrease in 2011 from their 20-year peak in 2008, said the National Fair Housing Alliance in an annual report of housing trends, though the group seeks clarification on a number of still-pending regulations. Private fair housing groups, like the NFHA, investigated 65 percent of the 27,092 housing discrimination cases in 2011. Disability and race made up the bulk of complaints. Local statutes prohibiting housing discrimination classes not recognized by federal law, including age, sexual orientation and marital status as the bases for complaints. Most of the complaints...

Ally Financial announced a deadline for borrowers seeking a modification under the $25 billion multistate servicing settlement finalized in February. In a financial filing last week, Ally wrote, “We are committed to providing loan modifications to all eligible borrowers who accept a modification offer within three months of the solicitation. We have also agreed to provide loan modifications to borrowers who accept a modification offer within six months of the solicitation, unless and until total borrower relief provided exceeds $250 million.” Of the five banks in the settlement, Ally is on the...

Small and medium-sized mortgage servicers want the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to allow flexibility to accommodate different business models as the agency drafts new national servicing standards that are expected to increase costs. The CFPB rulemaking process is somewhat unique because the Dodd-Frank Act requires that it take small business interests into account as it develops new regulations. The agency recently convened a panel under the process required by the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act to weigh the impact of new servicing requirements on smaller lenders. “The panel agreed...

Mortgage industry officials are urging the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to give the industry plenty of time to implement the extensive – and inter-related – changes that are required under the Dodd-Frank Act. Two of the biggest anxieties these days are the rules on “qualified mortgages” and “qualified residential mortgages” being developed by federal regulators. Another is the CFPB project to integrate Truth in Lending Act/Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act mortgage disclosures. In addition to the fact that none of these rules have been made final, there’s a good deal of angst over how they...

An ad hoc coalition of mortgage lender trade group representatives rattled off a host of concerns it has with the draft proposals from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for an integrated mortgage disclosure under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act and the Truth in Lending Act. The short list of concerns includes the need for careful synchronization with other rulemaking efforts, especially those involving the “qualified mortgage” and “qualified residential mortgage” designations; the negative and unfair results of lowering cost tolerances; the unintended consequences of expanding...