Congress should pass legislation setting uniform standards for qualified mortgages, according to the U.S. Mortgage Insurers trade group. USMI raised particular concerns about differences in the points-and-fees calculation for FHA mortgages compared with the standard for mortgages delivered to the government-sponsored enterprises. As required by the Dodd-Frank Act, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau established standards for QMs. Certain federal regulators, including the Department of Housing and Urban Development, were allowed to implement QM standards that differed from the CFPB standards. USMI noted...
With the enforcement of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act at stake, and a hostile occupant in the Oval Office, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is certainly not being bashful about continuing its regulation-by-enforcement modus operandi. The recent enforcement action against Prospect Mortgage is just the latest example. According to Colgate Selden, a partner in the Washington, DC, office of the law firm of Alston & Bird, the case is important because “it indicates the CFPB is moving full-speed ahead regardless” of the recent court rulings in PHH v. CFPB. This case is...
Attorneys with the Ballard Spahr law firm noted that, “If the DOJ gets its way, the CFPB would remain intact with a director that President Trump can replace at any time.”
Approximately $18.8 billion in rural housing loans with a U.S. Department of Agriculture guarantee were delivered into Ginnie Mae pools in 2016, according to an analysis of Ginnie data. Securitization of USDA loans was up 3.9 percent from the previous year. Fourth quarter production, however, was off 10.3 percent from the prior quarter, slowing down production of USDA loans during the period. Ditech Financial, which ranked 15th among the top Ginnie Mae issuers of mortgage-backed securities backed by USDA loans, ended 2016 with $284.9 million. That was up a staggering 4712.9 percent from 2015. Chase Home Finance led the market with $3.6 billion in 2016, despite hefty declines quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year. Second-ranked PennyMac closed the year with a total volume of $2.1 billion, while Freedom Mortgage, in third place, reported $2.0 billion, a whopping ... [ 1 chart ]
Thanks to strong growth in the agency market, the supply of single-family MBS outstanding continued to grow over the final three months of 2016, a new Inside MBS & ABS analysis reveals. Agency MBS outstanding pushed to a new record, $6.034 trillion, as of the end of last year. The biggest gainer continued to be Ginnie Mae, which reported a 2.2 percent increase in the fourth quarter and a 7.7 percent gain for the year. Freddie Mac matched Ginnie’s fourth-quarter increase, but its year-to-date gain was smaller, 4.2 percent. Fannie Mae had...[Includes two data tables]