Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-MA, is urging the Federal Housing Finance Agency to solicit public comments on FHFA’s policy regarding super-liens imposed by homeowner associations on loans in foreclosure. The FHFA has said it is obligated to protect the rights of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and will aggressively do so. Super-lien laws are currently in 22 states and the District of Columbia. They allow homeowner associations that are owed fees to take priority over ...
Watt has given no indication that he wants to wade into this mess and has repeatedly stressed that it’s up to Congress to figure out what to do with Fannie and Freddie.
The settlement agreement stemmed from a complaint filed by the Department of Housing and Urban Development against First Citizens Bank and Trust Co. in 2011 after an analysis of 2010 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data.
Government-sponsored enterprise Fannie Mae recently issued some additional guidance to its mortgage lender partners about self-reporting deficiencies in complying with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s integrated disclosure rule known as TRID. In a new selling-guide announcement, Fannie said, “Lenders are not obligated to self-report any matters related to possible TRID non-compliance, regardless of the number of loans involved, except in two limited circumstances where a repurchase demand is an authorized remedy.” The first circumstance is...
Portfolio lenders would get an expanded safe harbor from litigation under the qualified mortgage standard in the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s ability-to-repay rule under a proposed Republican replacement of the controversial Dodd-Frank Act. “Our plan ... provides critically needed mortgage relief with reforms that let community banks back into the mortgage business and ensure qualified borrowers can purchase a home while preserving prudent underwriting standards,” said House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-TX, in a speech at the Economic Club of New York on Tuesday morning. “Changes include an ability-to-repay safe harbor for loans held on portfolio, ensuring the availability of mortgage credit for manufactured homes, fixing the way points and fees are calculated, and exempting small servicers from escrow requirements.” The proposal, the Financial CHOICE (Creating Hope and Opportunity for Investors, Consumers and Entrepreneurs) Act, includes...
Home prices in many areas have fully recovered from the declines seen during the financial crisis, according to a variety of home price indices. While prices above levels seen before the financial crisis could cause alarms about another housing bubble, Sean Becketti, chief economist at Freddie Mac, is seeking to ease concerns. Last week, Freddie economists published an in-depth analysis of home price trends and median household income. They said the house price-to-income ratio appears to be the clearest indicator of the long-run sustainability of house prices. And even the PTI ratios that are relatively high in specific areas don’t necessarily indicate that there’s another housing bubble. “Based on this approach, we’re...
A bill making its way through the New York state legislature has prompted concerns among servicers and the Mortgage Bankers Association, who warn that the bill’s requirements regarding abandoned properties would increase costs and legal risks for servicers. A.6932-A, the Abandoned Property Neighborhood Relief Act, was recently approved by New York’s Assembly on a 116-22 vote. The bill would require servicers to periodically inspect properties tied to delinquent mortgages, report vacant properties to a state registry and provide authorities with tools to prompt servicers to maintain abandoned properties, among other provisions. “There is...
A coalition of multi-sectoral groups is urging the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to work with other federal agencies to provide strong protections for mortgage applicants and homeowners who have limited English proficiency (LEP). The Americans for Financial Reform, an umbrella organization for more than 200 civil rights, consumer, labor, business, investors, faith-based, and civic and community groups, said that while the CFPB has taken steps to assist LEP consumers, the agency and federal banking regulators should go further to make the mortgage marketplace fully and fairly accessible to these consumers. “Mortgage origination and servicing must be...
However, Fitch did raise concerns about the expenses associated with Pentalpha Surveillance, which will review potential breaches of representations and warranties…
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