Bank of America led all residential firms in cumulative mortgage complaints: 23,004 at the end of September. Wells Fargo was a distant second with 12,261.

When it comes to auditing mortgage lenders, does the CFPB know what it’s doing? It all depends on who you talk to. Also, the FHFA cracks down on force placed insurance (again).

Housing Commissioner Carol Galante warned that with interest rates rising, the FHA may have reached a “tipping point” with its mortgage insurance premiums.

If the case settles, it would be the second time in two years that a case involving disparate impact claims under the Fair Housing Act has settled before the Supreme Court had an opportunity to hear arguments.

The CFPB’s integrated mortgage disclosure rule under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act and the Truth in Lending Act might not be out until early December, an informed source told Inside the CFPB. For months, the expectation had been that an October release was in the offing, but it still has yet to come out, and bureau personnel say they don’t have a release date. “We were in a meeting at the beginning of October, and before that, there were some pretty heavy rumors that it was going to come out at the end of October,” said...

The National Association of Mortgage Brokers, the Mortgage Bankers Association and the National Association of Realtors are scheduled to meet with CFPB Director Richard Cordray and his staff this week to discuss various issues related to the bureau’s ability-to-repay rule and its qualified mortgage standard. More specifically, during their Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2013, meeting, the industry representatives plan to raise the impact of the points-and-fees cap, what they assert are the biases against mortgage brokers, and the ability for consumers to...

Mortgage lenders got a huge compliance and liability break, courtesy of the CFPB and the other federal financial regulators. A mortgage lender’s strategic decision to provide only qualified mortgages, in and of itself, will not raise its fair lending risk, the CFPB and four other regulators declared in new guidance issued last month. The agencies said they have received numerous inquiries from mortgage lenders about whether they would be liable under the disparate-impact doctrine of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act and its implementing...

Congress has no need to enact additional legislation to impose tough loss-mitigation standards on servicers and owners of securitized residential mortgage loans for the benefit of consumers. The CFPB’s mortgage servicing regulation thoroughly covers all related issues in this regard, according to a leading industry attorney. Larry Platt, a consumer finance lawyer at the global law firm K&L Gates, LLP, appeared late last month in a personal capacity before the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee to discuss the Housing...

The CFPB privately acknowledged to members of Congress recently that the bureau has had at least three data breaches thus far involving personally identifiable information from individuals who submitted complaints through the CFPB’s consumer response system. The admission was included among pages and pages of answers the bureau sent in response to numerous questions officials had received from lawmakers on Capitol Hill. Rep. Keith Rothfus, R-PA, brought the breaches to the public’s attention last week during a hearing on CFPB reform...

A bipartisan group of 22 members of the U.S. Senate wrote CFPB Director Richard Cordray late last month to raise concerns about the bureau’s guidance affecting the indirect auto financing market and auto dealers’ ability to negotiate retail margins with consumers. Back in March, CFPB Bulletin 2013-02 instructed bank and nonbank indirect auto lenders about complying with federal fair-lending requirements when it comes to auto dealers “marking up” the lender’s risk-based buy rate and receiving compensation based on the...