Mortgage professionals who work the M&A trade contend that interest in residential finance is not waning in the least, but potential buyers are being a bit more choosey these days.

Republicans on the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee appear to have thrown in the towel on trying to slow down the CFPB’s mortgage rulemaking locomotive. During a hearing last week, ostensibly to receive the bureau’s fourth semi-annual report to Congress, committee members from the Grand Old Party repeatedly tried to hammer CFPB Director Richard Cordray over the agency’s data-collection practices, with only a few brief mentions in passing of the bureau’s game-changing ability-to-repay rule with its...

Republic Mortgage Insurance Corp. – which hopes to re-enter the MI space sometime in the next year – on Friday agreed to a $100,000 settlement with the CFPB, settling allegations that it paid illegal kickbacks to lenders for at least 10 years. In a statement, the CFPB said RMIC “provided kickbacks to mortgage lenders by purchasing captive reinsurance that was essentially worthless but was designed to make a profit for the lenders. The kickbacks were in exchange for referrals of private mortgage insurance business from the lenders.”...

In a sign of just how serious the CFPB is about steering and loan-compensation issues, the bureau last week pressed Castle & Cooke Mortgage LLC into a settlement involving $9 million in restitution and $4 million in civil penalties to resolve allegations the firm and two of its executives paid illegal bonuses for steering consumers into costlier mortgages. The CFPB alleged that Castle & Cooke, through actions taken by its president, Matthew Pineda, and senior vice-president of capital markets, Buck Hawkins, violated the...

Once again, the Supreme Court of the United States has been denied an opportunity to weigh in and potentially set a national standard over the question of whether disparate impact cases can be brought under the Fair Housing Act, and perhaps the Equal Credit Opportunity Act as well. Late last week – just three weeks before oral arguments were set to be presented to the nation’s highest court – the Mount Holly town council voted to approve the settlement in Township of Mount Holly v. Mt. Holly Gardens Citizens in Action, Inc. The case...

The CFPB’s much-anticipated integrated mortgage disclosure final rule and related forms could be issued as early as Wednesday, Nov. 20, when the bureau plans to conduct a public field hearing in Boston on the mortgage aspect of its broader “know before you owe” initiative. The event will feature remarks by CFPB Director Richard Cordray and testimony from consumer groups, industry representatives and members of the public. The purpose of the forthcoming rule and forms is to integrate and harmonize the mortgage disclosures consumers receive...

One tidbit in the CFPB’s latest semi-annual report to Congress reveals that the bureau plans to “propose additional rules to further define the scope of the bureau’s nonbank supervision.” On July 3, 2013, the CFPB issued a final rule establishing procedures to implement Dodd-Frank Act Section 1024(a)(1)(C). “Under this rule, the bureau may bring under its supervisory authority certain nonbanks the bureau has reasonable cause to determine are or have engaged in activities posing risks to consumers in connection with the...

Days after taking heat from critical members of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee over the bureau’s increased attention to potential discrimination involving the provision of auto lending, CFPB Director Richard Cordray remained steadfast to his agency’s mission in this regard. “If anyone is uncertain about our resolve, let me do my best to dispel that uncertainty this morning,” Cordray said during an auto finance forum last week. “We will make every effort to do the job that Congress has set out for us, which...

The CFPB has begun the formal process that would result in a consumer protection rulemaking for the debt-collection market. The bureau issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking to collect information on a wide array of related issues, including the accuracy of information used by debt collectors, how to ensure consumers know their rights, and the communication tactics collectors employ to recover debts. Among the CFPB’s points of emphasis was information accuracy. The agency said it is concerned that debt collectors may...