Trustee responsibilities, the role of the government-sponsored enterprises, deal documentation, loan-level disclosures, servicing, ratings, assignee liability, regulatory uncertainty, lien priority, bondholder communication and incentives for banks. These are just a few of the issues that need to be addressed for non-agency MBS issuance to resume in a meaningful manner, according to industry participants. About 25 comment letters were submitted after a request from the Treasury ...

The list of lenders preparing to offer loans that don’t meet qualified mortgage standards continues to grow. Most recently, a number of nonbanks have expressed interest in the non-QM sector, looking for a different business model than the banks that are holding non-QMs in portfolio. New Penn Financial rolled out its non-QM offerings this week. The wholesale “Home Buyer Power” product allows for debt-to-income ratios up to 55 percent and interest-only options, along with ...

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s ability-to-repay requirements and standards for qualified mortgages have reduced originations of jumbo purchase-mortgages, according to 50.7 percent of the 67 bank jumbo lenders recently surveyed by the Federal Reserve. An Inside Nonconforming Markets analysis of the survey results reveals that the major impediments to originations are income verification requirements and ... [Includes one data chart]

Weighed down by high premium costs and lender overlays, FHA lost more primary market share to private mortgage insurers and the Department of Veterans Affairs during the second quarter of 2014. Although June’s FHA endorsement numbers have not yet been released, the trend seen in April through May, along with Ginnie Mae securitization data, suggest that FHA business was up a modest 11.5 percent from the first quarter. But that increase provides no comfort to FHA, which saw its market share go down to 33.7 percent, a six-year low. From April to May, FHA forward endorsements rose by 2.4 percent to $10.61 billion. On a year-over-year basis, however, endorsements were down from $21.9 billion in May 2013, according to an Inside FHA Lending analysis of agency data. On the other hand, private MI companies reported a total of $44.19 billion of new insurance written (NIW) during the ... [2 charts]

Reverse mortgages would be included in Home Mortgage Disclosure Act reports under a proposed rule published recently by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The proposed rule would expand the definition of a “covered loan” under HMDA to include reverse mortgages and home-equity lines of credit (HELOCs), which include reverse mortgages structured as open-end HELOCs. Currently, HMDA regulations do not require reporting of HELOCs, although lenders may do so if they choose. Currently, financial institutions only have to report information on a closed-end reverse mortgage if the transaction involves a home purchase, home improvement or refinancing. Among other things, the CFPB has proposed to require that all reverse mortgages and HELOCs be identified by loan type to distinguish them from other categories of ...

The Federal Reserve’s latest senior loan officer survey found the CFPB’s ability-to-repay/qualified mortgage rule is not having much of an effect on the conforming mortgage market but is being felt in the jumbo and nontraditional spaces. The July survey included a set of three special questions on the effects on the approval rates for home-purchase loans of the ATR and QM standards under the Truth in Lending Act, which came into effect early this year. The first question asks respondents to indicate the extent to which the ATR/QM rule is affecting the likelihood of their banks approving applications from individuals for mortgage loans to purchase homes for each of four categories of residential real estate loans. [includes one exclusive data chart] ...

Nearly three-fourths (74 percent) of senior mortgage executives surveyed by Fannie Mae’s Economic and Strategic Research Group in June indicated that they expect operational costs to increase as a result of the CFPB’s ability-to-repay/qualified mortgage rule. Most lenders (80 percent) said they “do not plan to pursue non-QM loans” or prefer to “wait and see”. “Larger lenders are more likely to pursue non-QM loans to increase their market share,” Fannie said. Also, most firms (84 percent) reported that they expect at least 90 percent of their single-family mortgage origination dollar volume to still be considered qualified mortgages. Further, “Lenders, on net, expect to tighten credit standards as a result of QM rules,” according to the government-sponsored enterprise, with 36 percent ...

A number of mortgage finance industry groups have expressed concern about how the CFPB’s ability-to-repay rule is interfering with the return of private investor capital back into the sector – mostly because of the rule’s assignee liability provisions. The industry comments came in response to a request from the Treasury Department in June for suggestions to encourage private capital to return to the non-agency mortgage-backed securities space. The Association of Institutional Investors said the ATR rule’s assignee liability provision “unfairly punishes investors who have nothing to do with the origination of loans and oftentimes have limited insight into the origination practices.” The assignee liability provision therefore introduces a risk that is almost impossible to price for those not directly involved in ...

CFPB Student Loan Ombudsman Rohit Chopra is raising the headline risk for banks that fail to be transparent about the campus financial product marketing agreements they have with colleges and universities. In a recent blog post alerting colleges and students about “secret banking contracts,” Chopra indicated the bureau has been mailing out letters to such educational institutions “to make sure they know that their bank partner has not yet committed to transparency when it comes to student financial products” because the financial institution has not yet posted its marketing agreement with the school on its website. Last year, the CFPB launched an inquiry into financial products marketed to college and university students to determine whether the market is working for...

CFPB Making Its Presence Felt Among Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Servicers. Fannie Mae’s latest earning filing indicates the CFPB and/or the New York State Department of Financial Services have been reviewing the activities of Fannie Mae’s three largest non-depository servicers (which would be Nationstar, Ocwen and possibly Quicken Loans, according to the latest ranking by Inside Mortgage Finance, an affiliated publication). The scrutiny of Quicken Loans seems to be a new development. The bureau would not comment. Meanwhile, during the first half of 2014, Freddie Mac said in its second quarter earnings announcement that it implemented requirements for its seller/ servicers in response to some final rules from the CFPB, including rules concerning the requirements for borrowers’ ability to ...