Analysts at S&P Global Ratings said that they do not expect mortgage servicers to see much of an impact from ongoing efforts at deregulation. “The recent resignation of the head of the CFPB – a major tenet of Dodd-Frank – the appointment of a new CFPB acting director, and the Trump administration’s focus on rolling back financial regulations suggest more lenient industry standards could be in the future,” they said in a report recently. However, they don’t foresee any major shift in the industry. “For one, no servicer wants to be associated with following questionable strategies or practices,” the ratings service said. “Furthermore, implementing regulatory initiatives in the past 10 years has been costly for servicers. It would be counterproductive for servicers ...

If the CFPB thought that mandating a 43 percent debt-to-income ratio requirement for a residential mortgage, as seen in its ability-to-repay rule, would lower the odds of a borrower later going into default, it might want to think again. The JPMorgan Chase Institute recently reviewed more than 400,000 mortgage modifications that received payment reduction, principal reduction, or a combination of the two during the financial crisis, and came to the conclusion that payment reduction did a better job bringing relief to struggling homeowners than principal reduction. “Our data showed that for borrowers who were underwater, payment-focused mortgage debt reduction was more effective at slowing default than principal-focused mortgage debt reduction,” the institute said in a report last week. “In addition, ...

Speaking during a recent public appearance in Washington, DC, Mark Calabria, chief economist in the Executive Office of the Vice President, discussed the Trump administration’s priorities when it comes to regulatory reform, and the CFPB’s ability-to-repay rule was one of the items on the list. “Looking at the mortgage finance system as a whole is critical, as is reviewing the substantive rule-makings that came out of the Dodd-Frank Act,” said Calabria, former director of financial regulation studies at the libertarian Cato Institute in Washington, DC, and a former Capitol Hill staffer involved in drafting the framework for the conservatorships of government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. “We really did expand the regulatory framework with things like the qualified mortgage ...

A new report from the Office of the Inspector General of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. found that examiners in the agency’s Division of Depositor and Consumer Protection need to do a better and more consistent job of reviewing lenders’ compliance with the CFPB’s ability-to-repay and loan originator compensation rules. The ATR rule directed most mortgage lenders to make a reasonable and good-faith determination, at or before loan consummation, that a consumer would have a reasonable ability to repay a residential mortgage loan according to its terms. Some lenders and loan programs are exempt from this requirement. The LO comp rule placed limits on loan originator compensation and imposed new requirements on loan originators. Both rules took effect Jan. 10, 2014....

It’s Official: Cordray is Running for Governor in Ohio. After months of rumors and speculation, former CFPB Director Richard Cordray recently declared his candidacy for governor in his home state of Ohio. Although he faces at least four rivals for the Democrat nomination, at least one observer in the state considers him the instant favorite.... Mulvaney, Trump and Wells Fargo. Since Mick Mulvaney assumed the directorship of the CFPB, he has imposed a 30-day freeze on all new bureau regulations, and reportedly stopped all new contracting and all new lawsuits, has installed his aides into important positions at the agency, and temporarily froze all payments from the bureau’s civil penalty fund....

The housing industry had warned that extending the requirement would “lock” younger borrowers into their first homes for longer periods of time…

The statute requires the GSEs to serve three specific underserved markets: manufactured housing, affordable housing preservation, and rural housing by increasing secondary market liquidity...

Ginnie’s Dec. 7 memo to issuers outlines the new pooling changes, along with additional measures…

Eventually, loanDepot's investors will want to cash out...

The three most notable aspects of Janet Yellen’s final press conference as the chair of the Federal Re-serve were the expected comments in support of the central bank’s 25 basis point rate increase, positive economic expectations of pending tax reform efforts, and confirmation the Fed is unlikely to provide much information about its balance sheet reduction going forward.