“Community bank regulators have taken a diagnostic approach with TRID compliance, which has been positive,” said ICBA’s Ron Haynie.

Fannie Mae’s Connecticut Avenue Securities program and Freddie Mac’s Structured Agency Credit Risk program have accounted for the bulk of GSE activity since the CRT initiative was launched three years ago.

The comment period on the amendments ended Tuesday night. The CFPB will issue a final rule sometime next year.

The FHFA said internal audits at the housing GSEs should cover the entire audit universe over a four-year period…

Two thoughts: Force colleges to forgive a large chunk of what’s owed to them and/or order real estate agents (and sellers) to drastically reduce the asking price on homes. Which would you choose?

The CFPB took a whipping last week in the long-awaited court ruling in its dispute with PHH Mortgage – so much so, in fact, that not only are its future enforcement actions likely to be curtailed, but even past actions might be challenged by the affected industry participants. “The ramifications of this case go far beyond restricting the CFPB’s reach, clarifying the interpretation of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, and resolving the question of how statutes of limitation apply to the CFPB’s enforcement actions,” said Craig Nazzaro, of counsel with the Baker Donelson law firm in Atlanta, in a review of the case. As he sees it, this case makes clear that the bureau has exceeded its bounds and that ...

Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit brought the powerful CFPB down to earth in its legal wrangling with PHH Mortgage, ruling that two aspects of the bureau’s structure – the dismissal of the director of the agency only for cause, and the single directorship as opposed to a multi-member bipartisan commission – were unconstitutional. “As an independent agency with just a single director, the CFPB represents a sharp break from historical practice, lacks the critical internal check on arbitrary decision-making, and poses a far greater threat to individual liberty than does a multi-member independent agency,” wrote Circuit Judge Brett Kavanaugh on behalf of the court. “All of that raises grave constitutional doubts about the CFPB’s ...

PHH Mortgage – and the rest of the mortgage industry, for that matter – came out with a clear and decisive win against the CFPB last week when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit vacated the $109 million disgorgement order imposed on the lender by the director of the bureau, Richard Cordray. PHH argued that the CFPB incorrectly interpreted RESPA Section 8 to bar so-called captive reinsurance arrangements involving mortgage lenders such as PHH, their affiliated reinsurers and private mortgage insurers. The lender also asserted that, in any event, the CFPB departed from the consistent prior interpretations issued by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and that the bureau then retroactively applied its new interpretation of ...

With the public comment period about to close on the CFPB’s TRID clarifying proposed rule, a few industry voices of support have emerged among the comment letters submitted so far by rank-and-file industry representatives. For instance, Debbie Ingle, executive director of mortgage and real estate lending for Alaska USA Federal Credit Union, commended the bureau for issuing the proposed amendments to clarify the federal mortgage disclosure requirements under the Truth in Lending Act and the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act. “The proposed amendments are beneficial and will provide mortgage lenders with clarification and improved guidance,” said Ingle. “The amendments serve as a good first step to help mortgage lenders resolve the complex implications of the TILA/RESPA Integrated Disclosure Rule (TRID) ...

Earlier this month, the CFPB’s controversial TILA/RESPA Integrated Disclosure rule – TRID – turned one year old. In an email exchange with Inside the CFPB, former bureau official and TRID architect Richard Horn, who now heads his own law firm in Washington, DC, addressed the progress the industry has made in adopting the rule, and the challenges that remain. Horn began by saying he thinks the industry has generally done a great job with the extremely difficult task of implementing TRID. Also, “I am very pleased that some of the recent industry surveys of consumers after TRID have shown that consumers are experiencing the intended benefits,” he said. “There are challenges still, but it’s a good sign that the CFPB issued the ...