Targeted reform of the FHA housing program, not broad structural changes, can potentially improve borrowers’ access to credit while clarifying the rules for lenders and protecting taxpayers, a top industry executive told Congress earlier this month. Testifying before the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance, David Stevens, president and CEO of the Mortgage Bankers Association, said FHA reforms do not entail changes to the program’s scope, such as FHA market share or its customer base. Stevens noted that first time or low- to moderate-income borrowers are typical FHA borrowers. “The structure and coverage of FHA insurance has served borrowers and lenders well,” he said. “It should not be reduced or otherwise altered.” The Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund capital ratios and thresholds are likewise appropriate, though options to improve the fund’s long-term solvency should ...

While the concept was introduced more than a year ago, the specific duties for a deal agent remained a work in progress…

As the mortgage industry prepares for a substantially expanded Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data collection and reporting environment from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, compliance experts are getting a clearer sense of some of the biggest challenges lenders will face – most notably on the technology front as well as fair lending scrutiny.

Heightened concerns have emerged about the effectiveness of the CFPB’s information security systems…

A guarantee fund would be developed to cover losses.

A handful of mortgage executives have suggested to us that trade groups are overreacting to the GOP’s tax overhaul plan and the way it treats the mortgage interest deduction...

The Trump White House has made it clear that it’s no fan of the CFPB, but the DOJ has yet to weigh in on the case…

According to Wallison: “There is nothing about the way the government has managed the housing finance system for the last 50 years that would remotely recommend a continuing government role.”

Tuesday’s panel discussion has been dubbed the “think tank” hearing because it includes representatives from the Urban Institute, the Milken Institute and American Enterprise Institute…

Ocwen Financial appears to be just as mystified as anyone else when it comes to understanding why the Department of Justice has not weighed in on the company’s dispute with the CFPB, as it had been invited to do. But that hasn’t kept the nonbank mortgage servicer from asking the court to proceed with oral arguments. Late last month, Ocwen filed a supplemental motion with the U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida, West Palm Beach Division, in favor of its earlier motion to dismiss the bureau’s complaint against it. The purpose of the motion is “to clarify the position of the United States [government] on the issue of plaintiff CFPB’s structural unconstitutionality, in light of the inaction of the ...