Prior to FHFA’s new directive, Fannie and Freddie required homeowners who have been through foreclosure and want to buy their home back to pay the entire amount owed on the mortgage.

But did anyone really think the FHFA was going to reduce the GSE loan limits? Really…

Regarding Altisource Portfolio Solutions, Sterne Agee noted: “It is difficult to be optimistic from here"...

The Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act allows homeowners who received principal reductions or other forms of debt forgiveness to avoid paying taxes on the amount forgiven.

If anyone in the housing finance industry thought the CFPB was finished with its mortgage-related rulemaking, they were wrong. Last week, the CFPB issued a batch of proposed amendments to its 2013 mortgage servicing rules, including a number of changes to how servicers handle loss-mitigation applications. First, the bureau is proposing to require servicers to meet the loss-mitigation requirements of its mortgage servicing rules more than once in the life of a loan for borrowers who become current after a delinquency. However, the rule is not clear how many times this could occur over the life of the mortgage. A little insight can be gleaned from a CFPB blog posting geared towards borrowers, which stated, “We are also proposing that ...

There are eight other subject areas included in the CFPB’s 490-page proposed rulemaking to amend its 2013 mortgage servicing rules, above and beyond the extensive amount of revisions to loss mitigation practices, as highlighted above. The first of those has to do with successors in interest – people who inherit or receive property when there is still an outstanding mortgage loan on the property. The bureau is proposing three sets of rule changes relating to successors in interest, the first of which is to apply all of its mortgage servicing rules to a successor in interest once a servicer confirms that a person is a successor in interest. Second, the bureau is proposing rules relating to how a mortgage servicer makes ...

The CFPB recently ordered Franklin Loan Corp., an independent, residential mortgage banker in Palm Desert, CA, to pay $730,000 to consumers the bureau alleges were harmed by the company’s practice of giving employees bonuses for steering consumers into loans with higher interest rates. The bureau also has asked a federal district court to approve a consent order requiring the company to end its allegedly illegal compensation system and refund the consumers it harmed. This is the second loan originator compensation settlement the CFPB has obtained, the first being the case involving Castle & Cooke Mortgage. In this case, according to the CFPB, Franklin Loan originated approximately $887 million in loans between 2011 and 2013. “From June 2011 to October 2013, ...

Under current rules, a servicer cannot explain on the notice itself that the borrower’s hazard insurance is insufficient rather than expired or expiring...

Last week, the CFPB initiated its first enforcement action against a “buy-here, pay-here” car dealer, DriveTime, which it accused of harming consumers by allegedly making harassing debt collection calls and providing inaccurate credit information to credit reporting agencies. DriveTime must pay $8 million as a civil money penalty, end what the bureau characterized as unfair debt collection tactics, revise its credit reporting practices, and arrange for harmed consumers to obtain free credit reports. Phoenix-based DriveTime Automotive Group Inc. and its finance company, DT Acceptance Corp., make up the largest buy-here, pay-here car dealer in the nation, according to the CFPB. “Buy-here, pay-here” means that the dealer sells the car as well as originates and services the auto loan. These kinds ...

The CFPB last week proposed sweeping changes for the booming prepaid card market, aiming to mandate new disclosures, error-resolution procedures, consumer liability limits for unauthorized transactions, fee limits, and added requirements for cards with overdraft or credit features. This proposal would apply a number of specific federal consumer protections to broad swaths of the prepaid market for the first time. The proposal would cover traditional plastic prepaid cards, many of which are general purpose reloadable cards. In addition, the proposal would cover mobile and other electronic prepaid accounts that can store funds. The prepaid products covered by the proposal also include: payroll cards; certain federal, state and local government benefit cards such as those used to distribute unemployment insurance, child ...