The Trump administration is expected to put a temporary freeze on the 25 basis point cut in FHA annual premiums that is scheduled to take effect Jan. 27. One industry source noted: “On Jan. 20, President Trump will be issuing an executive order that freezes all past actions over a certain period of time. The FHA premium reduction gets swept into this.” Sources told...

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit last week gave PHH Corp. the green light to weigh in on the legal arguments the Justice Department made late last year in support of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s petition for an en banc rehearing of its dispute with the lender. The appeals court did so over the objections of the CFPB, and with 11 of the 12 judges in agreement and one not participating. PHH had argued that it ought to be able to respond to the second of two government arguments in favor of the review. Privately, some industry insiders thought...

Legislative reform of the government-sponsored enterprises doesn’t appear to be a high priority for Republican lawmakers, but President-elect Donald Trump’s plans to reduce the corporate tax rate could inadvertently prompt some GSE reform activity, according to industry analysts. As of the end of the third quarter of 2016, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had a combined $53.80 billion in deferred tax assets. The DTAs result from differences between the carrying amounts of existing assets and liabilities under generally accepted accounting principles and their respective tax bases. The DTAs are...

Thanks to stellar fourth quarter MBS issuance – coupled with higher interest rates at Dec. 31 – Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are likely to report their best quarterly earnings of 2016, money that will go directly into the U.S. Treasury. According to interviews conducted by Inside Mortgage Finance this week, the general consensus among observers is that the two government-sponsored enterprises will post a combined profit north of $5.5 billion. In 2016, the two guaranteed...

While many in the mortgage industry wait for the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals to decide whether to rehear the arguments of the CFPB in its wrangling with PHH, the plaintiffs in State National Bank of Big Spring, Texas, et al. v. Lew, et al. have stepped back onto the legal stage at the district court level. Specifically, “Plaintiffs respectfully move [the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia] to hold a status conference at its earliest convenience to determine how this case ... can be most efficiently adjudicated in light of the CFPB’s petition for en banc review of the panel decision in PHH Corp. v. CFPB,” State National Bank and its parties asked the appeals ...

The American Bankers Association sent a letter to the leaders of Congress recently, urging adoption of a bipartisan regulatory relief package that would provide unspecified reform of the CFPB and address an expanded definition of a qualified mortgage. When it comes to the bureau, the ABA urged sensible regulation by restoring “balance to the regulatory process, including Consumer Financial Protection Bureau reform,” and by focusing on promoting both economic growth and safety and soundness. On the QM point, the organization asked lawmakers to “reform mortgage regulations that have raised costs and prevented banks from flexibly serving their customers without enhancing consumer protections or safety and soundness. Most crucially, deeming loans held in portfolio as qualified mortgages will expand safe and ...

The U.S. Department of Justice recently reached a settlement with two jointly owned but independently operated banks in Ohio, Union Savings Bank and Guardian Savings Bank, resolving allegations that the pair engaged in a pattern or practice of redlining predominantly African-American neighborhoods in and around the Ohio cities of Cincinnati, Columbus and Dayton, as well as in Indianapolis. According to the government’s complaint, Union (with $2.7 billion in assets and 29 branches) and Guardian (with $861 million in assets and 11 branches) violated the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, which prohibit financial institutions from discriminating on the basis of race and color in their mortgage lending practices. The Justice Department alleges that, from at least 2010 ...

Bureau Mulling Possible Changes to HMDA Resubmission Guidelines. It’s been roughly one year since the CFPB issued a request for information regarding Home Mortgage Disclosure Act resubmission guidelines, and the bureau has yet to decide which way to proceed. The agency received 31 comments in response to the RFI, which was published Jan. 12, 2016, in the Federal Register. Commenters included HMDA reporters, industry trade groups, and consumer groups.... Revisions to Interagency Compliance Rating System Still Pending. The CFPB and the other members of the FFIEC continue to review public comments on their April 29, 2016, proposal to revise the existing Uniform Interagency Consumer Compliance Rating System to reflect regulatory, supervisory, technological, and market changes since the system was established....

Trump Administration Staffs up Bureau ‘Landing Team.’ The transition team of the incoming administration of President-elect Trump recently announced the members of its CFPB “landing team,” one of whom is Paul Atkins, currently CEO of Patomak Global Partners, a consulting firm. Atkins is a former commissioner at the Securities and Exchange Commission.... House, Senate Re-tool for 115th Congress. Congressional leaders have updated their committee and subcommittee leadership assignments for a new Congress that promises to put more heat than ever on the CFPB, now that a Republican will occupy the White House for the first time since the passage of the Dodd-Frank Act and the establishment of the bureau....

Empirical evidence of the mortgage market’s recovery is still piling up, with the latest quarterly consumer complaint data from the CFPB showing that gripes about home loans fell in most categories tracked, both on a quarterly basis and year over year, according to a new analysis and ranking by Inside the CFPB. Consumer criticisms in the fourth quarter fell a solid 15.0 percent from the period ending Sept. 30, 2016. Finger pointing by borrowers fell on a YOY basis as well, but by a smaller 4.5 percent, the data show.With fewer and fewer borrowers underwater or in foreclosure these days, it should be no surprise that complaints about loan modification are down the most [With three exclusive data charts] ...