Compass Point Research told clients that the case not only directly affects mortgage originators, but has implications for other lending sectors as well.
Trying to handicap a forthcoming ruling from the highest court in the land is notoriously fraught with difficulty and unpredictability, given that the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court have a penchant for playing devil’s advocate on both sides of a legal issue. But comments made this week by one of the conservative justices, Antonin Scalia, during the high court’s consideration of the latest disparate-impact case to reach it made it clear he believes the legal doctrine of disparate impact is a part of the contemporary legal landscape. And that could prove to be pivotal to the ultimate outcome. The central legal question in Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs, et al., v. The Inclusive Communities Project Inc. (No. 13-1371) is whether disparate-impact claims are cognizable under the Fair Housing Act of 1968. The state of Texas is challenging...
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau this week countered mortgage-industry criticism about its recently launched interest-rate checker tool. “The rate checker is an educational tool and is not a substitute for shopping,” a spokesman for the bureau told Inside Mortgage Finance. “One of the findings of our survey was that consumers who said they were very familiar with available interest rates were almost twice as likely to shop, compared to those who were unfamiliar.” Further, before consumers make a final decision about a loan, they should compare...
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau this week made final two tweaks to its integrated disclosure rule that were proposed back in October, both of which will give mortgage lenders a little more flexibility. Under the first change, lenders will have to provide a revised loan estimate within three business days after a consumer locks in a floating interest rate. Under the original rule, lenders would have had to provide the revised LE on the date the rate was locked. “After hearing feedback from stakeholders, the bureau determined...
Shortly before he left office, the former chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee urged the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to fix a problem that may prevent some loans from being classified as qualified mortgages. Former Sen. Tim Johnson, D-SD, said the problem in the CFPB’s points-and-fees definition was the result of a drafting error in the Dodd-Frank Act, which established the qualified mortgage under the ability-to-repay regulation. Loans with points and fees exceeding 3 percent can still be legal under the ATR, but the lender doesn’t get the liability protection afforded QMs. “The calculation of points and fees for purposes of determining what is a qualified mortgage was not intended...
After hearing from the industry, the CFPB determined that the short turnaround could pose challenges for lenders that allow consumers to lock rates late in the day or after business hours.
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