The recent death of conservative U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia may make it difficult for the nation’s highest court to consider a pending case that has far-reaching implications for the mortgage industry and the broader financial services sector. The specific question in Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins is whether the respondent (Robins) identified an injury-in-fact under Article III of the U.S. Constitution by alleging that the petitioner (Spokeo) had willfully violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act by publishing inaccurate personal information in consumer reports – in this case, on a consumer-reporting type website – without following reasonable procedures to assure the information’s accuracy. Spokeo tried to dismiss the suit on the grounds that Robins could not prove he suffered a specific financial ...

The CFPB issued a compliance bulletin recently that spells out the Fair Credit Reporting Act’s requirement that furnishers of information to credit reporting agencies (CRAs) institute reasonable written policies and procedures that ensure the accuracy and integrity of such information, including specialty CRAs. “The supervisory experience of the bureau suggests that some financial institutions are not compliant with their obligations under Regulation V with regard to furnishing to specialty CRAs,” said the bulletin. “Furnishers’ establishment and implementation of reasonable policies and procedures regarding the accuracy and integrity of information are essential components of a fair and accurate credit reporting system.” Further, “Such policies and procedures protect against the furnishing of inaccurate information that could potentially cause adverse consequences for consumers ...

Consumers complained to the CFPB about debt collection issues at a substantially reduced level during the fourth quarter of 2015, according to a new analysis and ranking by Inside the CFPB. During the period ending Dec. 31, 2015, consumer gripes were down 27.5 percent versus the previous quarter.Among the top 50 companies as ranked by consumer criticisms, 45 saw a double-digit percentage decline. Year over year, the story is less inspirational, with consumer kvetching down a mere 0.6 percent. Six companies saw complaints leap by triple digit percentages. To put some anecdotal flesh on these empirical bones, in the CFPB’s most recent supervisory highlights report, the bureau pointed out that during its examination of at least one debt collector, ...

Plurality Finds No Delays Because of TRID. The most recent online poll by Inside Mortgage Finance, an affiliated publication, posed the following to respondents: “A lot has been written lately regarding loan closing delays tied to the new TRID rule. What’s been the average delay at your lending shop, if at all. (Report in business days, not calendar.)” Thirty percent selected “TRID has caused no delays because we were prepared.” Another 27 percent chose 1 to 4 days, 13 percent checked 5 to 10 days, and 11 percent selected “11 to 15 days. It’s been a nightmare.” Interestingly, 20 percent chose the final option: “We’re too embarrassed to tell you.” Uh-oh. ...

RamQuest-eLynx Integration Enhances TRID Compliance with Automated Data Flow Between Lenders and Settlement Agents. Texas-based RamQuest, a provider of comprehensive title and settlement services solutions, and Ohio-based eLynx, a provider of on-demand web-based compliance services, recently announced a product/service synchronization to help lender and settlement agent clients comply with the CFPB’s integrated disclosure rule known as TRID. “The integration enables lenders utilizing eLynx’s Expedite ID compliance solution to exchange property, fee and loan data electronically with thousands of settlement service providers using RamQuest,” the companies said. “This bi-directional exchange of data simplifies the collaboration required for lenders to generate the Closing Disclosure mandated by the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure rule.” ...

Mortgage originators selling loans into MBS last week likely were hit with “pair-off” fees from secondary-market investors who were expecting delivery of higher-yielding mortgages, a proposition complicated by the sudden downdraft in rates. As one secondary market executive noted: “A forward sale into an MBS is not a perfect hedge. Then again, nothing is a perfect hedge.” Originators that fund billions of dollars each quarter use...

Secondary market participants are once again urging government regulators to revise pending margin requirements for the to-be-announced MBS market, lest they negatively disrupt the space and possibly raise the cost of providing mortgage credit. At issue is SR-FINRA-2015-036, a proposal from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority to establish margin requirements for the TBA market under FINRA Rule 4210. Previously, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association urged...

Although lenders like to complain about the new integrated disclosure rule known as TRID, there has been one major benefit for people looking for employment in the mortgage industry: the controversial rule has created jobs at many lending shops. According to managers interviewed by Inside Mortgage Trends the past two weeks, almost across the board, originators have hired new staff to deal with compliance paperwork, the processes and the technology ...

The Obama administration released its budget proposal for 2017 last week and it illustrates a key challenge to managing reform. How can you phase out the GSEs while at the same time planning to use profits from them? The budget emphasized that the housing finance system must be reformed, and the GSEs should be wound down in order to finish addressing the weaknesses exposed by the financial crisis. The administration’s fiscal 2017 budget proposal estimates that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will pay $151.5 billion in dividends to the government over the next 10 years, on top of the $241.2 billion in dividends they already paid as of the end of 2015.

Although residential originations fell by roughly 15 percent in the fourth quarter on a sequential basis, warehouse lenders saw their commitments inch up slightly, according to new figures compiled by Inside Mortgage Finance. At Dec. 31, warehouse banks had extended an estimated $49.0 billion of commitments to non-depository lenders, a 2.1 percent sequential gain. Compared to yearend 2014, commitment levels rose a handsome 28.9 percent. Part of the reason for the increase in activity – especially year-over-year – can be explained...[Includes one data table]