The average daily trading volume in agency MBS fell to $189.4 billion in March, the lowest reading of the year, and a sign that liquidity may still be an issue, depending on which seat you’re in. According to figures compiled by the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, the trading numbers for 2016, so far, haven’t exactly lit the world on fire. In January and February, the readings were $195.1 billion and $201.4 billion, respectively. Last year, the best reading was...

A lender that focuses on investment properties is preparing to issue a non-agency MBS backed by adjustable-rate mortgages on residential and commercial properties. The deal shares some characteristics with non-agency MBS backed by new loans, but it’s different in a lot of ways. The planned $358.60 million Velocity Commercial Capital 2016-1 received provisional AAA ratings this week from Kroll Bond Rating Agency. Residential properties account for 55.3 percent of the collateral, with small commercial properties making up the rest. All of the mortgages backing the planned MBS are for investment properties. Velocity Commercial Capital issued...

Two years after the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s ability-to-repay (ATR) rule went into effect, residential mortgage servicers have yet to see borrower claims being brought, according to a new report from Fitch Ratings. However, Fitch says the landscape could change as certain non-qualified mortgage loans become more common. But for now, the lack of borrower claims is not surprising, the report said. Most loans, including those eligible for purchase by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, meet...

For mortgage bankers, it was another trying week in TRID purgatory: A mid-sized nonbank exited the correspondent jumbo market because of concerns over legal liability and separately it appeared industry trade groups have given up hope that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will issue any type of formal guidance on cures. Meanwhile, the TRID scratch-and-dent market continues to hum along and the consumer watchdog agency has begun examining residential lenders for compliance with the integrated disclosure rule. “TRID exams have commenced...

Closing times for purchase mortgages are starting to recover from delays tied to the TRID disclosure rule, according to results from the latest Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse Tracking Survey. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s final rule combining disclosure requirements of the Truth in Lending Act and the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act took effect in early October. Average closing times for various mortgage types increased in the following months, though performance has improved recently, according to HousingPulse. For example, the original closing time for purchase mortgages with a downpayment of at least 20 percent where the loan will be delivered to the government-sponsored enterprises was...

A pilot effort by the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network is underway in New York City and Miami to track suspicious “all cash” purchases of high-end residential properties as part of the government’s anti-money laundering (AML) enforcement. In remarks during a recent AML conference in Florida, FinCEN Director Jennifer Shasky Calvery said geographic targeting orders (GTOs) were issued by the agency in January this year and went into effect on March 1. They require identification of high-end cash buyers to ensure luxury residences purchased with cash are not masking money laundering activities. Specifically, U.S. title insurance companies are temporarily required...

Borrowers saddled with student loan debt now have a better chance of qualifying for an FHA mortgage, thanks to a recent change in the way lenders factor such payments in the calculation of a borrower’s debt-to-income ratio. Under newly revised guidance announced by the FHA recently, lenders may apply the same calculation criteria used in the mortgage industry regardless of the type of student loan-payment plan (such as income-based payment plans) or a deferred-payment plan. Currently, there are...

The mortgage industry and supporters on Capitol Hill are keeping up the heat on the CFPB, urging the powerful consumer regulator to issue official guidance on TRID disclosure errors and assignee liability as problems continue to plague the non-agency secondary market. David Stevens, president and CEO of the Mortgage Bankers Association, said recently: “As one who believes that the bureau has done a lot of good work, it is a phenomenon to me that the simple request for clarity to specific questions we have submitted, amidst the clear and fact-based challenges facing responsible lending in its focus on efforts to be compliant, is being met with such resistance.” According to the MBA chief, this isn’t just lenders bellyaching. “This is ...

According to recent interviews, problems persist in the secondary mortgage market because certain jumbo investors won’t buy loans even if there’s just one, minor TRID error. At least one lender – W.J. Bradley Mortgage in Colorado – has closed (in part) because of TRID-related snafus tied to jumbo loan sales. Meanwhile, there’s new speculation that as many as four more lenders, all nonbanks, are contemplating filing for bankruptcy protection because non-agency product is stuck on their warehouse lines. No names have been mentioned so far, and it could be that talk of bankruptcy protection is premature and being looked at as a last resort. On the other hand, the secondary market for TRID “scratch-and-dent” loans is “still going fast and furious,” said ...

Respondents to a recent survey conducted by Campbell Surveys and sponsored by Inside Mortgage Finance, an affiliated newsletter, provided a down-in-the-trenches perspective on broader conceptual and philosophical concerns trade group officials in Washington, DC, often talk about when it comes to the CFPB’s integrated disclosure rule. Survey respondents were asked about the effect TRID was having on their closings. Some representative comments follow: On confidentiality issues, one agent said, “I do not like TRID at all. The closing disclosures cannot be shared. How can we as agents verify all information is correct? Buyers’ agents cannot verify before closing that their commission is correct as well. It’s a complete mess on all ends.” Another agent said, “The biggest problem with TRID ...