Carol Galante, former head of the FHA, has been named to Ocwen Financial’s board of directors. Galante left the FHA in August 2014 to take on the position of faculty director with the Terner Center for Housing Innovation at the University of California, Berkeley. Current director Phyllis Caldwell was elevated...
Many small and medium-sized nonbanks have been earning steady profits the past three years, but all that ended in the fourth quarter of 2015, thanks to the integrated disclosure rule known as TRID. At least that’s what some warehouse managers told Inside Mortgage Finance. These credit executives, who spoke under the condition their names not be used, were somewhat surprised by the development, but were quick to caution that about a third of their clients posted losses. The managers also noted...
Guaranty-fee income increased in 2015 at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac despite the fact that average g-fees on new business acquisitions were down slightly. The two government-sponsored enterprises reported a combined $17.33 billion in net income for all of last year, a 20.9 percent drop from 2014. However, g-fee income at the two GSEs was up 8.2 percent from 2014 to 2015, and continued to account for a growing share of their income as their investment portfolios shrank. G-fee income did not climb...
The odds are currently zero that Congress will find a legislative solution to the future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac this year, which is causing anxiety for the man charged with being both conservator and regulator to the government-sponsored enterprises: Mel Watt, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Moreover, there is a growing concern among mortgage bankers that severe interest swings to the downside could cause a large net loss at Freddie in the first quarter of this year, a loss so large it will force the GSE to ask the U.S. Treasury for a draw on taxpayer funds. And it will happen...
Last week, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finalized its “no-action” policy towards market innovators that develop new financial services products, adopting its proposal largely unchanged. But industry experts think the new policy is not only useless but actually counterproductive in that it will likely discourage lenders from developing new loan products in an evolving mortgage market – not foster more innovation. This new policy – created under the CFPB’s Project Catalyst – “is designed to improve access to consumer financial products and services that promise substantial consumer benefits,” said CFPB Director Richard Cordray. “We want to foster a consumer financial marketplace where companies develop safe, innovative products and approaches that can help make people’s lives better.” Under the policy, bureau staff would issue...
The Mortgage Bankers Association and other industry groups are strongly urging the Department of Labor to reconsider a proposed rule updating overtime regulations that currently exclude mortgage loan officers and certain categories of employees from overtime compensation. Officials reiterated the MBA’s position, which it clearly spelled out in a joint letter with other financial services trade groups in September last year objecting to the DOL’s proposed rulemaking regarding overtime exemptions for executive, administrative, professional, outside sales and computer employees. Among other things, the MBA, American Bankers Association, Independent Community Bankers of America, Financial Services Roundtable and The Clearing House cited...
“It is time to shrug off the naysaying consultants and lawyers who breed a culture of fear and hypothesized problems to hype their services,” Cordray added.
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