According to a new letter obtained by Inside Mortgage Finance, HUD says it is uncertain whether any new loan created under the controversial eminent domain plan would qualify for FHA insurance.

The guidance, effective October 15, applies to manually underwritten FHA loans and requires lenders to document reasons for approving a mortgage when the borrower has collection accounts or judgments.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid appears to have come out in support of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. But will other elected officials follow suit?

A group, including State National Bank of Big Spring, TX, and 11 state attorneys general, have appealed a recent district court dismissal of their lawsuit that challenges the constitutionality of the CFPB as well as President Obama’s recess appointment of Richard Cordray as the bureau’s director. “The district court’s opinion is deeply flawed,” C. Boyden Gray, lead counsel for the plaintiffs, said in announcing the appeal. “It is disturbing that the opinion – and the government – ignored the very real harm Dodd-Frank has...

House Financial Services Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-TX, and House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-CA, sent a letter to CFPB Director Richard Cordray recently, expressing concerns that senior employees have left the bureau in order to profit from the very rules they helped create. “Simply put, it appears that former CFPB employees are now offering financial products in a market sector created by the very rules they were in a position to influence while working in senior leadership positions...

Up until recently, if a mortgage joint venture of Wells Fargo asked its partner if the megabank was still feeling the love for joint ventures, the answer would’ve been yes. At least that’s the word from one JV executive who received the news recently that Wells was tossing all of its origination JVs overboard. Earlier in the year, the bank told its two largest JVs – HomeServices Lending and Prosperity Mortgage – that everything was hunky dory. Well, apparently not. Of course, both Home and Prosperity needn’t worry...

With the prospect of the qualified mortgage right around the bend for the mortgage lending industry, it could be easy for lenders to be so focused on getting their points-and-fees calculation to a point of near-perfection. But don't lose sight of your third-party vendors. Michael Chan, vice president at ComplianceEase in Burlingame, CA, gave some attendees at a recent Inside Mortgage Finance webinar on the QM a list of features and characteristics that should be part of a lender's every due diligence effort to vet and review a...

The CFPB should not proceed with a proposed telephone survey on credit card dispute resolution, three financial services trade groups said in a comment letter. First, the Financial Services Roundtable, the Consumer Bankers Association and the American Bankers Association said the proposed survey is inconsistent with the bureau’s mandate under the Consumer Financial Protection Act. Section 1028(a) of the CFPA provides that the bureau shall “conduct a study of, and shall provide a report to Congress concerning, the use of agreements...

Borrowers in the near-$1.2 trillion student loan market had a number of concerns about processing of payments, obtaining documentation about their loans, finding accurate information about their loan status and repayment options, and accessing basic account information, according to an updated mid‐year snapshot of private student loan complaints from the CFPB. Last October, the CFPB Student Loan Ombudsman’s first annual report identified servicing issues that were cited by private student loan borrowers in their complaints...

Congress and the White House may have cut many of the nation's student borrowers a break by enacting the Bipartisan Student Loan Certainty Act of 2013, which restored lower interest rates for student loans after rates doubled on July 1. But the student lending industry is pleading with the CFPB to immediately provide private student loan providers with a 30-day compliance grace period for lenders and servicers to make the necessary changes to their systems so they can accurately disclose the interest rates for federal...