In the end, the residential originator is ceding less authority to the closing agent...

Although Fannie Mae is poised to begin auctioning off some of its nonperforming mortgages, the market continues to be dominated by smaller deals.

According to the FHLB-NY, a limited number of investors – and members – have been approved for the pilot.

The decline in the use of principal reduction mods is concentrated on bank portfolio loans as opposed to mortgages in non-agency MBS.

Moreover, it is unclear how much enforcement power Edward Golding can wield.

The CFPB recently revealed details about proposals it is considering to stop what it characterized as payday “debt traps,” targeting payday loans, deposit advance products, vehicle title loans, and certain high-cost installment and open-end products – a scope of rulemaking so comprehensive it threatens to push a number of lenders out of the small-dollar lending market entirely. “[T]he contemplated rules are sweeping. We believe that, if they are adopted, the rules will lead to many lenders exiting the business of making covered loans and radically contract consumer access to covered loans,” Jeremy Rosenblum, a partner in the Philadelphia office of the Ballard Spahr law firm, said in a recent client note. The proposals under consideration cover both short-term and longer-term credit ...

Shortly before the U.S. Congress vacated the nation’s capital for its spring recess, the House Financial Services Committee passed, with varying levels of bipartisan support, a package of regulatory relief bills, including a handful related to rulemakings from the CFPB. Most notable among them is H.R. 685, the Mortgage Choice Act, sponsored by Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-MI. H.R. 685 aims to assist banks that originate mortgages through the wholesale channel by modifying the points-and-fees formula in the CFPB’s ability-to-repay rule. The measure would exclude from the calculation insurance and taxes held in escrow and fees paid to affiliated companies as a result of participating in an affiliated business arrangement. The committee approved the bill by a 43-12 vote, despite a ...

The Independent Community Bankers of America told the CFPB that it strongly supports some of the key proposed changes to the ability-to-repay/qualified mortgage rule. However, more must be done, including the establishment of a safe harbor for community bank mortgages held in portfolio. “[W]e strongly believe community bank loans that are held in portfolio, including balloon mortgage loans, should be considered QM loans that receive automatic legal safe harbor protections and an exception from any escrow requirements for higher-priced mortgage loans,” the trade group said in a comment letter. When a community bank holds a loan in portfolio, it has 100 percent of the credit risk, a direct stake in the loan’s performance and every incentive to ensure it is ...

Many financially struggling consumers echoed the American Bankers Association in arguing that the CFPB’s proposed rules on prepaid products could hurt the so-called underbanked and those who sometimes have more month than they do money. “The CFPB’s proposed rules for prepaid products include some onerous provisions that could create insurmountable compliance barriers for banks offering the cards,” the ABA said in a comment letter. “This would be particularly harmful for ‘underbanked’ individuals, many of whom rely on prepaid accounts as an alternative to traditional deposit products.” One barrier is the CFPB’s proposed treatment of overdrafts, which “effectively prohibits linking prepaid cards to overdraft services ... and prohibits imposing any fee when an account is in overdraft status,” the trade group ...

In response to the CFPB’s draft “scorecard” for safe financial products to be offered on college campuses, two lender trade groups said that colleges should be able to work with banks to offer a flexible array of deposit products to their students and not be pigeon-holed into just one approach. In a joint comment letter to the CFPB, the American Bankers Association and the Consumer Bankers Association said they strongly support transparency and strong protections for consumers when using any financial service and will continue to work with the bureau to achieve that goal. “However, the proposed scorecard appears singularly focused on driving colleges and universities into limiting insured depository institutions to offering a particular type of deposit program with ...