Consumer complaints about credit reporting pretty much remained flat in the first quarter of 2015 from the fourth quarter of 2014 – up a scant 0.5 percent during that period – but dropped 11.0 percent overall from year-ago levels, a notable decline. An analysis of the CFPB’s consumer complaint database by Inside the CFPB found that each of the big three credit reporting firms – Experian, Equifax and TransUnion – saw declines year over year. Experian turned in the best performance of the three, however, seeing a drop of 18.4 percent. TransUnion was the only one of the big three to see a decline in both periods.Among specific complaints, “incorrect information” continues to represent the lion’s share of negative consumer feedback ... [with exclusive data chart]

The CFPB plans to release its long-awaited final rule to implement Dodd-Frank Act amendments to the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act in late summer, according to the bureau’s Spring 2015 rulemaking agenda, which was released late last month. “The proposal would help align the law with existing industry standards for collecting data on mortgage loans and applications,” said the agency. “It would also improve HMDA’s effectiveness through changes to institutional and transactional coverage, modifications of reporting requirements, and clarifications of existing regulatory provisions. We expect to release a final rule in late summer.” Elsewhere, the CFPB continues to be steadfast on the Aug. 1, 2015, effective date for its TILA/ RESPA integrated disclosure rule, and its latest rulemaking agenda betrays no ...

FSOC Advises Continued Collaboration on Nonbank Mortgage Servicers. The Financial Stability Oversight Council, of which the CFPB is a member, expressed continuing concern about the large share of mortgage servicing rights being handled by nonbank mortgage servicers these days, and urged continued collaboration between state and federal regulators in ratcheting up their oversight to strengthen such companies. “[N]onbank mortgage servicing companies, which in recent years have purchased large amounts of mortgage servicing rights from banks and thrifts, have grown to account for a material portion of the mortgage servicing market,” the report said. FSOC went on to note that in January of this year, the Federal Housing Finance Agency proposed new minimum financial eligibility requirements for mortgage seller/servicers that do ...

Public Silent on Information Collection Plans to Survey Consumers, Conduct Cognitive Research. More than one week after the public comment period closed on two “generic information collection plans” from the CFPB, there was not a single public comment submitted for the official record, Inside the CFPB discovered when searching the U.S. government’s regulation.gov website. The first GICP had to do with surveys using the Consumer Credit Panel. In order to improve its understanding of how consumers engage with financial markets, the CFPB uses this CCP, a proprietary sample dataset from one of the national credit reporting agencies, as a framework to survey people about their experiences in consumer credit markets. The sample includes approximately 5 million de-identified credit records representing ...

“What Dewsnup held is that the lienholder, according to the basic non-bankruptcy bargain, is entitled to keep its lien until payment in full or until a lender decides to foreclose,” said attorney Danielle Spinelli...

Morningstar Credit Ratings may increase its presence in the residential MBS market after rating its first re-securitization last week and revising its rating criteria for new non-agency MBS. The push follows Morningstar’s initial effort to rate non-agency MBS in 2012, which didn’t generate any business. The company has rated commercial MBS and single-family rental securities. Last week, the rating service published...

Banks and thrifts held $155.55 billion of non-mortgage ABS on their books as of the end of March, a 2.3 percent decline from the previous quarter, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS analysis of call-report data. The first-quarter figures mark the fifth straight quarterly decline in bank ABS holdings, which peaked at $173.80 billion at the end of 2013. Bank ABS holdings were down 9.9 percent from the first quarter of last year. Almost every ABS category was...[Includes two data tables]

A pilot jumbo loan program between the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago and Redwood Trust has grown to include three more FHLBanks, with the potential to expand to more. Mortgage Partnership Finance Direct is specifically a high-balance loan product that connects the Mortgage Partnership Finance conduit program with Redwood Trust to offer access to private capital when selling fixed-rate mortgages in the secondary market. Eric Schambow, senior vice president and director of the Chicago FHLBank’s MPF Program, said...

A federal appeals court in Chicago has set aside a $2.46 billion judgment against HSBC’s Household International unit and three of its top executives and ordered a new trial. Investors won the judgment in 2009 based on charges that the bank and its top executives misled them about its mortgage lending practices. The price of the stocks subsequently collapsed as the subprime mortgage market unraveled, causing huge investor losses. The class-action lawsuit alleged...

A new analysis by an economist at the Federal Reserve suggests that the Dodd-Frank Act’s risk-retention requirements won’t adequately address the issues that caused the structured finance market to essentially freeze in 2007. A paper by Alyssa Anderson suggests a deposit insurance-like agreement between investors and private market firms or the government would better protect investors from losses and reduce ambiguity. She stressed that increased uncertainty about securities, the potential length and depth of a downturn and possible government intervention contribute to investors shying away from securitization markets. “Given the presence of ambiguity, the market freeze can persist...