With the effective date of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s integrated disclosure rule now just weeks away, industry representatives are escalating the amount of compliance advice they are offering to real estate agents and lenders. This week, the Mortgage Bankers Association released a variety of materials to facilitate complete conformity with the bureau’s pending disclosure rule under the Truth in Lending Act and the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act ...
In the Fairholme Funds v. The United States case, Judge Margaret Sweeney ruled in favor of the Federal Housing Finance Agency to keep documents in the case sealed under “protected information,” according to an order filed on Sept. 4. The court denied the motion by the plaintiffs and said it was too early to consider unsealing the documents since the case is still in the discovery phase. “Because this case is in the jurisdictional discovery phase, the court finds that it is premature to grant at this juncture plaintiffs’ various motions to remove the ‘protected information’ designation from certain deposition transcripts and documents produced during jurisdictional discovery,” said the order.
Former Fannie executive Tim Rood, now chairman and founder of the Collingwood Group, said "the current posture by the administration is pretty indefensible.”
As they approach their eighth year in conservatorship, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac generate a lot of revenue for the government and dominate the conventional-conforming mortgage market. But both government-sponsored enterprises are forced to hold less and less capital, and a bad quarter or two could force another round of bailouts. Aside from lawsuits by disgruntled GSE shareholders, pressure appears to be growing for a new approach that would allow the two to rebuild their capital. According to reports, Rep. Mick Mulvaney, R-SC, may introduce such a bill in one of the least hospitable places it could land, the House Financial Services Committee. As of press time Mulvaney’s office has not returned...
Concerns about litigation and various pricing issues have combined to suppress originations of non-qualified mortgages to borrowers who aren’t affluent, according to industry analysts. Since the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s ability-to-repay rule and QM standards took effect in early 2014, a certain portion of the non-QM market has held up fairly well: interest-only mortgages. However, the loans tend to be available solely for affluent borrowers, while non-QM originations for less-than-prime borrowers remain limited. Most non-QM lenders are targeting...
The Oct. 3, 2015, effective date for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s integrated disclosure rule is just weeks away, leaving the mortgage industry a shrinking window of time in which to convince members of Congress and the White House to provide regulatory relief. Although Republicans likely have enough votes to force a multi-prong regulatory relief bill through both chambers of Congress, the Obama administration appears to remain opposed, even if the White House has been sitting on the sidelines and completely disengaged. “On the TRID [implementation] extension, there’s...
There is no doubt that nonbank mortgage lenders are as heavily regulated as banks when it comes to consumer protection, some industry executives say, but the level of scrutiny for safety and soundness may be higher for depository institutions. The Community Home Lenders Association asserts that nonbanks are subject to more consumer protections than banks and have virtually identical regulatory burdens imposed by product regulations such as those for the FHA, VA, Ginnie Mae, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. “While nonbanks are heavily regulated at the state level, they are...
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