Mortgage lenders originated an estimated $17 billion in new home-equity loans during the second quarter of 2014, a 30.8 percent increase from the previous period, according to a new market analysis and ranking by Inside Mortgage Finance. But the volume of outstanding home-equity lines of credit and closed-end second mortgages held in portfolio by depository institutions – the biggest players in the HEL market – continued to dwindle. Banks, thrifts and credit unions reported a total of $540.4 billion of HELOCs on their books at the end of June, down 0.9 percent from March, along with a 1.5 percent drop in closed-end seconds. It continued...[Includes three data charts]
The vast majority of community banks plan to continue to offer mortgages even though increased regulation is limiting business, according to a survey conducted by the Conference of State Bank Supervisors. Rules from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau remain a primary concern, although many community banks already offer loans outside of the standards for qualified mortgages. “Banks continue to see opportunity in residential mortgage lending but have a mixed view of non-QM lending,” according to the report jointly compiled with the Federal Reserve. “Assessing the ability to repay and QM standards against current exposures, bankers generally identified a low level of nonconformance, suggesting the rules may generally be in line with bank practices while still requiring significant changes in operations.” Some 64 percent of the 884 community banks surveyed said...
Mortgage servicers will likely proceed more carefully with their borrower interactions after the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau compelled Flagstar Bank to pay $37.5 million to settle allegations it interfered with borrowers’ attempts to save their homes. In the first enforcement action based on its new mortgage servicing rule, the CFPB ordered Flagstar to pay $27.5 million to the victims, and $10 million in to the bureau’s civil penalty fund. According to the consent order, Flagstar committed...
In a surprise ruling this week, a federal judge in Washington, DC, dismissed claims by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac shareholders challenging the Treasury Department’s 2012 “net-worth sweep” of nearly all the profits generated by the government-sponsored enterprises. Judge Royce Lamberth of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that Treasury and the Federal Housing Finance Agency are empowered by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 to execute the “third amendment” of the preferred stock purchase agreement. The dismissal includes...
Several large nonbank lenders have banded together to form what they call a “working group” to address key regulatory issues that they say are stifling their growth and future prospects for success in a rapidly changing mortgage industry. The group’s members – including Ocwen Financial – will initially strive to educate and inform regulators about nonbanks, but will not lobby Congress. Members of the group stress that the nonbank collective is not a trade organization and does not seek that status. For now, Ocwen is...
The handbook is designed to support FHA’s broader goals of expanding access to mortgage credit and making it easier for stakeholders to do business with the agency.
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