FHA borrowers who refinance through the agency’s Home Affordable Modification Program will also be eligible to earn $5,000 in the sixth year of their performing, modified loan, subject to the Department of the Treasury’s guidelines, the FHA has announced. The incentive to FHA-HAMP borrowers is one of several enhancements to the Making Home Affordable program that the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Treasury Department unveiled in December last year. The enhancements were designed to motivate homeowners in MHA to continue making timely mortgage payments, strengthen the safety net for those still facing financial hardships, and help them build equity in their homes. Under the revised HAMP guidelines, all homeowners in the program become eligible to earn $5,000 in the sixth year of their loan modification. This means a borrower’s outstanding principal balance could ...

SunTrust Banks started off the new year reliving the pain of the last six years since the financial crisis by revealing it plans to take yet another financial hit – this time, a $145 million legal expense in its fourth quarter results tied to legacy mortgage issues. In a Form 8-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission early this week, David Wisniewski, deputy general counsel, said the bank was taking the charge “to increase legal reserves and complete the final resolution of one matter. Accordingly, based on current information, the company expects its estimate of reasonably possible losses related to legal matters, in excess of reserves, to decrease by approximately this amount.” Wisniewski did not specify...

Mortgage lenders and real estate agents called for further clarifications of an inter-agency proposed regulation that would mandate escrowing of all premiums and fees for flood insurance for most residential mortgages and mobile homes, with some exceptions, after Jan. 1, 2016. While supportive of the regulation, industry groups urged the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., Federal Reserve Board, National Credit Union Administration and the Farm Credit Administration to proceed cautiously and ensure flood insurance remains affordable and available to consumers. The proposed rule covers...

With Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on solid financial footing in terms of earnings, some factions of the mortgage industry believe the two should be allowed to rebuild capital by retaining some of their profits. But getting there would require a hard push from the White House, and the approval of the Treasury Department, which controls the senior preferred stock of the two. In a recent letter to Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew and Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Melvin Watt ...

An attorney representing the Federal Housing Finance Agency called on a federal judge in Iowa to dismiss a third federal suit brought by affiliated entities challenging the terms of the 2012 Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac net worth sweep. “There is gamesmanship going on here, your honor,” said Howard Cayne, an attorney with Arnold & Porter who is representing the FHFA in its motion for summary judgment. Investors say the net worth sweep, authorizing the Treasury to ...

Conversations with Capitol Hill insiders, industry lobbyists and trade group representatives suggest the CFPB is going to face a double-barreled threat from a Republican-controlled U.S. Senate and House of Representatives in the 114th Congress that convenes in January. On the one hand, the GOP is expected to be aggressive in holding numerous oversight hearings on a number of issues having to do with the CFPB. On the other hand, Republicans also are likely to push multiple pieces of legislation relating to the bureau and its rulemaking. A number of tweaks, revisions and technical corrections to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act are expected as well. Elaborating on the legislative front, Joe Pigg, vice president and senior counsel ...

In another example of multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional legal action, the CFPB and Florida’s Attorney General Office brought an enforcement against two student debt-relief companies accused of tricking borrowers into paying upfront fees for federal loan benefits. “We allege that both companies exploited vulnerable student loan borrowers, made false promises about their debt-relief services, and charged illegal upfront fees,” said CFPB Student Loan Ombudsman Rohit Chopra. The bureau and the Florida AG shut down Tampa-based student loan debt-relief company College Education Services, and its owners, Marcia Elena Vargas and Frank Liz, for allegedly scamming students into paying upfront fees for student loan debt consolidation, loan forgiveness, and relief from garnishments, services that were never provided or not performed as promised, according to ...

The CFPB sued a Dallas-based company, Union Workers Credit Services, for allegedly deceiving consumers into paying fees to sign up for what it advertises to be a general-use credit card that actually can only be used to buy products from the company. “The business model for Union Workers Credit Services is built on duping consumers into signing up for a sham credit card,” said CFPB Director Richard Cordray. “Hundreds of thousands of people, including a great many union members who were specially targeted, have been tricked into spending millions of dollars for a so-called credit card that can really only be used to buy the company’s own products, ” he added. “From the misleading photos of nurses and firemen on ...

The CFPB’s proposed rule, “Defining Larger Participants in the Automobile Financing Market,” didn’t win many friends in the auto finance sector during the public comment period which closed earlier this month. The proposed rule would generally allow the bureau to supervise larger nonbank auto finance companies – those that make, acquire or refinance 10,000 or more loans or leases in a year – for the first time at the federal level. The bureau also indicated that it considered, and is continuing to consider, the establishment of a higher threshold – 50,000 annual originations, and one that is lower – 5,000 annual originations.The National Independent Automobile Dealers Association told the CFPB it should decline to establish any threshold that is lower than the 10,000 ...