When it comes to attracting and retaining top loan originator talent in the era of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, it looks like independent shops may be the game to beat. One key issue now is whether depository institutions will step up to compete for the top talent in the mortgage space. “If we look back to 2008-2009, the brokers fled as quickly as they could to the independents, the depositories, just everywhere they could, to be able to operate and manage their business,” Drew Waterhouse, managing director of Hammerhouse LLC, said during an Inside Mortgage Finance webinar late last week. As the playing field has become more level with all the different regulations that have been brought to bear since then, “you see...

Republican members of the House and the Senate have introduced legislation that would nullify the Department of Labor’s much-anticipated white-collar overtime exemption rule now under review at the Office of Management and Budget. Introduced jointly by GOP members of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce and the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, the bill would stop the DOL’s proposed expansion of mandatory federal overtime pay in its tracks. The bill, Protecting Workplace Advancement and Opportunity Act, would provide...

The House Financial Services Committee recently voted to advance legislation that would provide a private flood insurance alternative to the federal National Flood Insurance Program for homeowners required to purchase flood insurance. H.R. 2901, the Flood Insurance Market Parity and Modernization Act, passed by a unanimous vote of 53-0 and was sent to the House floor for consideration. A Senate counterpart bill, S. 1679, which was reintroduced by Sen. Dean Heller, R-NV, last year, is awaiting action in the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. Both bills were introduced...

“Look, it’s March of an election year. And it’s not like he was going to get a lot done," said one observer regarding Stegman's departure.

Prior to the HELP Act, a small lender was only eligible for these provisions if it operated predominantly in rural or underserved areas.

On the other hand, 63 percent said the new forms for loan estimates and closing disclosures were easier to understand...

Merge Fannie and Freddie into one? Crazier things have been suggested...

Meanwhile, we’re told that WJB’s woes can be traced to more than just TRID errors…

“Many sophisticated parties have been duped,” said NAR.

This advisor noted that WJB was looking to raise debt, but was also open to a sale.