Research by two economists in the CFPB’s Office of Research found that many homebuyers do not shop around for a mortgage, and that costs them a pretty penny. “Close to half of consumers did not shop before taking out a mortgage,” CFPB economists Alexei Alexandrov and Sergei Koulayev said in a new white paper. They cited the National Survey of Mortgage Originations, a representative survey conducted jointly by the bureau and the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which found that almost half of consumers “seriously considered” only one lender before making a choice. Also, “Barely any consumers considered more than three lenders,” the economists added. “Worse, many consumers do not seem to realize that there is price dispersion.” In other words, ...

The CFPB’s latest fair lending report to Congress, quietly distributed earlier this month, indicates that two mortgage issues will stay on the agency’s front burner: redlining and servicing. On the redlining front, the CFPB said it will “work to evaluate whether lenders have intentionally discouraged prospective applicants in minority neighborhoods.” When it comes to servicing, the bureau indicated it will “determine whether some borrowers who are behind on their mortgage … payments have more difficulty working out a new solution with the servicer because of their race, ethnicity, age, or gender.” The agency continued: “We are committed to ensuring fair, equitable and nondiscriminatory access to credit by finding and eliminating discriminatory lending practices, and also by encouraging lenders to maintain ...

JPMorgan Chase Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon recently called for national mortgage servicing standards as one key reform that will significantly increase the availability of mortgage credit to qualified borrowers. “Mortgage servicing is a particularly complex business in which the cumulative impact of regulations has dramatically increased operational and compliance risk and costs,” costs which get passed on to borrowers, he said in his annual letter to shareholders. However, “The most promising opportunity in mortgage servicing is to adopt uniform national servicing standards across guarantors, federal and state regulators, and investors,” Dimon noted. And Congress doesn’t have to get involved to address this. “In particular, the U.S. Treasury is well-positioned to lead key players in the mortgage industry (the CFPB ...

School Accrediting Body Wins One Against the CFPB. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has upheld a district court ruling that a civil investigative demand (CID) issued by the CFPB against the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS) is unenforceable. This is a big deal, and not just as it relates to the bureau. “The decision represents the first time in decades that a federal appeals court has struck down an administrative subpoena issued by the federal government,” said Allyson Baker of Venable LLP, who served as one of the lead counsel for the firm on behalf of ACICS....

Investors Unite: “We’re encouraged to see that MBA has changed its position on both of these issues and we also note that in their [sic] paper, MBA acknowledges the role of the Federal Housing Finance Agency … in stabilizing the companies during the conservatorship.”

Arch Capital will issue its quarterly earnings this Wednesday, April 26. It will mark the first earnings release following the Arch Mortgage Insurance purchase of competitor United Guaranty…

The average daily trading volume in agency MBS reached $207.8 billion in March, a mere 2.66 percent gain compared to the month prior and a sign that investors are in a holding pattern these days, trying to decipher both the stock market and geopolitical events. According to figures compiled by the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, average daily trading volume jumped 9.7 percent compared to the same month a year ago. In January 2017, $229.8 billion in product changed hands daily. Meanwhile, a recent decline in rates means...

Seven marketplace lending securitizations with a total issuance of $3.0 billion came to market during the first quarter of 2017 – a quarterly record, according to a new report by PeerIQ, a New York-based data provider and risk-analysis firm for the peer-to-peer lending industry. Total securitization issuance to date now stands at $18.0 billion, with 80 deals issued so far (48 consumer, 22 student, one mortgage and nine small and medium-sized enterprises) since September 2013, the PeerIQ analysts said. Also, the trend towards rated deals and larger transactions continued...

The Mortgage Bankers Association is sticking with its proposal to keep Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac alive, but with new charters, while inviting other players to compete with the two giants in the securitization of conventional mortgages. The trade group this week proposed a utility-like model for the re-christened government-sponsored enterprises. They would inherit the personnel and systems the GSEs now have, but become limited-purpose, publicly owned securitization businesses under tight government regulation. Other entities could apply...

Blockchain technology could help reduce the compliance costs associated with Regulation AB2, according to the Structured Finance Industry Group and the Chamber of Digital Commerce. The two trade groups recently submitted a comment letter to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority in response to FINRA’s report on distributed ledger technology. FINRA, an independent regulator of broker-dealers, is considering the implications of blockchain for the securities industry. Blockchain is...