A coalition of industry trade associations is urging the FHA to harmonize its regulatory treatment of transfer fee covenants with the Federal Housing Finance Agency. In a joint letter, the group said the FHFA’s final rule on transfer fee covenants “establishes a clear, national standard to protect homeowners from equity-stripping private transfer fees while preserving the preeminence of state and local governments over land-sue standards.” The letter was sent in response to reports that FHA may issue a proposed rule on transfer fee covenants that will apply to FHA-insured mortgages. A private transfer fee covenant is attached to real property by the owner or another private party – frequently the property developer – and provides for a fee to be paid to specified third party every time the property is resold. The fee typically is a percentage of the property’s sales price and ...
AAG, NCRC Announces Fair Lending Partnership in Reverse Mortgages. American Advisors Group, ranked first among the nation’s Home Equity Conversion Mortgage lenders in 2013 by Inside FHA Lending, has collaborated with the National Community Reinvestment Coalition to ensure fair lending to older borrowers. Through this partnership, AAG employees will complete an NCRC fair housing training course. In addition, the AAG will consult with NCRC to develop best practices for complying with the Fair Housing Act. An umbrella group of more than 600 community-based organizations, the NCRC will also serve as an adviser to AAG in providing HECM mortgages to qualified borrowers age 62 or older. AAG Chief Executive Officer Reza Jahangiri said the partnership is a huge step toward the promotion of fair lending practices and responsible lending. AAG was the top HECM lender in 2013 with $1.4 billion in total originations representing ...
Although the pace of blockbuster servicing deals appears to have slowed, the giants of the mortgage-servicing business continued to leak market share in early 2014. Significantly, there is now just one lender with more than $1 trillion in mortgage servicing. Back in the third quarter of 2005, Countrywide Financial became the first company to amass over $1 trillion in mortgage servicing, and Wells Fargo joined the club by the end of that year. Chase Home Finance became a $1 trillion servicer in the fourth quarter of 2008, shortly after Bank of America took over Countrywide and became the first $2 trillion servicer. But BofA dumped...[Includes two data charts]
State regulators are evaluating regulation and supervision of nonbank servicers due to the growth seen in the sector in recent years, according to officials at the Conference of State Bank Supervisors, which last month closed a request for proposals on the issue. “This is just a really good time for us as a system to look at this change, what does this change mean, and how should it inform the licensing regime on the state side,” said Michael Stevens, senior executive vice president at the CSBS. Among other issues, state regulators are researching...
During a legislative markup session this week, the House Financial Services Committee approved H.R. 2673, the Portfolio Lending and Mortgage Access Act, introduced by Rep. Andy Barr, R-KY, which would deem all mortgages held in portfolio to be qualified mortgages under the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s ability-to-repay rule. Republican supporters characterized the bill as the ultimate “skin in the game” measure and noted it was specifically drafted to avoid the pitfalls of the “originate to distribute” model so heavily criticized for contributing to the financial crisis. But Democrat opponents said...
The amended consent process that led to faster cash payouts to victims of improper loan modifications and foreclosure practices should be evaluated and tested further to ensure servicers’ implementation of foreclosure prevention principles, according to the Government Accountability Office. The new GAO report represents the third and final phase of the watchdog’s examination of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s Independent Foreclosure Review (IFR) process. In 2013, the IFR was replaced for most servicers with cash payments and foreclosure prevention actions. The latest report found...
The most significant bill up for debate Wednesday is the Portfolio Lending and Mortgage Access Act, introduced by Rep. Andy Barr, R-KY, which would deem all loans held in portfolio to be qualified mortgages under the CFPB’s ability-to-repay rule.
“We’re well into this year’s home-buying season and too many potential buyers and sellers are sitting on the sidelines because they’re afraid they can’t qualify for a home loan before they’ve looked into it,” said loanDepot's Dave Norris.
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