An analysis of non-qualified mortgages suggests that many of these borrowers have credit qualities strong enough to qualify for a mortgage that could be delivered to the government-sponsored enterprises. However, issues involving credit events and income documentation can disqualify such borrowers from conventional mortgages. According to an analysis by Morningstar Credit Ratings, the weighted-average loan-to-value ratio for securitized non-QMs is 75.2 percent and the average debt-to-income ratio on the loans is 36.6 percent. The rating service noted that QMs (including agency and non-agency mortgages) have an average LTV ratio around 69.0 percent and an average DTI ratio around 32.3 percent. In addition to showing that certain characteristics don’t differ much between QM borrowers and non-QM borrowers, the analysis suggests...

Mortgage lenders will not be subject to supervisory or enforcement actions for violations of the early implementation guidance for the revised 2016 mortgage servicing rule, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The CFPB issued “non-binding” policy guidance last week to allay lenders’ fear of being penalized if they fail to implement the 2016 servicing amendments up to three days early, said industry attorneys. Issued in August last year, parts of the rules take effect on Oct. 16, 2017, and April 16, 2018. Technically, the “relief” applies...

The Federal Housing Finance Agency proposed minor revisions to its single-family and multifamily housing goals for 2018 through 2020 to push Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to continue helping low-income borrowers. The FHFA acknowledged that Fannie and Freddie are challenged when it comes to making credit available for the low-income market. Both government-sponsored enterprises have fallen short of the market in the low-income and very low-income purchase goal almost every year since 2013, the regulator noted. Most of the single-family goals would remain...[Includes one data table]

A representative of the Conference of State Bank Supervisors testified before the U.S. Congress recently, telling lawmakers that smaller financial institutions can’t engage in as much residential mortgage lending activity as they otherwise would because of the growing reporting requirements under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, as well as the CFPB’s ability-to-repay/qualified mortgage rule. In his testimony before the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, Charles Cooper, commissioner of the Texas Banking Department and immediate past chairman of CSBS, said the CFPB’s recent expansion of HMDA reporting requirements has placed a disproportionate burden on smaller and less complex institutions, potentially restricting mortgage lending as well. “In 2018, the number of data points required to comply with HMDA reporting standards ...

One emerging issue identified by state mortgage regulators over the last year has to do with the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, according to a new report issued by the Multistate Mortgage Committee.Specifically, MMC examination teams found numerous data discrepancies in the Loan Application Register (LAR) submissions, when compared to the data contained in the reportable loan files. “Within the review process, examiners seek to validate the accuracy of the LAR data submitted to meet the requirements of HMDA, and in multiple instances it was determined that the data was either inaccurate or incomplete,” the report said. As the CFPB works to update the HMDA submission process, which may eliminate some of these issues, the MMC said it will also ...

Legislation is afoot in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate that would significantly expand the scope of lenders exempt from the record keeping and reporting requirements under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act. In late June, Rep. Tom Emmer, R-MN, introduced H.R. 2954, which would amend HMDA to expand the exemption thresholds that determine which depository institutions are subject to the act’s record maintenance and disclosure requirements. However, the triggers are based on the number of loans originated, not the asset size of the institution. Specifically, the bill would exempt depository institutions that originated fewer than 1,000 closed-end mortgages in each of the two preceding calendar years, and depositories that originated fewer than 2,000 open-end lines of credit ...

During the American Bankers Association’s 2017 regulatory compliance conference, held last month in Orlando, a top industry expert discussed and elaborated upon the work she and her colleagues have engaged in to prepare their institution for the upcoming TRID 2.0 clarifying rulemaking, which remains inexplicably delayed at the CFPB. Elizabeth Fredrickson, a vice president at Wells Fargo Bank, told an audience at a breakout session that her compliance team began with a “keep or kill” exercise back in March for all of the CFPB rules. “We brought stakeholders together and talked about what we liked and what we did not like, what we need and what we could do,” she explained. “Really, our conversation about TRID revolved around the fact ...

The CFPB’s ability-to-repay/qualified mortgage rule hit the mortgage market at a difficult time and is compounding problems many homebuyers are having accessing credit, and the industry hope now is that the bureau will take the critical market dynamics into consideration as it undertakes its review of the ATR rule and revises it accordingly. That was one of the key takeaways from a breakout session at the American Bankers Association’s annual regulatory compliance conference last month in Orlando.“We understand why the rule came into existence, obviously. But what it did is typical when the pendulum goes too far in one direction, then things go too far the other way,” said Richard Andreano, a partner in the mortgage banking unit at ...

The Federal Reserve took some pointed criticism on Capitol Hill this week over its handling of monetary policy since the end of the Great Recession, including its support of the housing and mortgage markets through its unprecedented quantitative easing programs. “I don’t think the added gross domestic product growth we’ve had over the last 90 months will be proven to have been worth ballooning the balance sheet from $900 billion to $4.5 trillion,” Rep. French Hill, R-AR, said during a hearing this week by the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Monetary Policy and Trade. He also said...

A group of servicers and other industry participants is focusing on issues with government-insured mortgages and has plans to simplify servicing practices. The Mortgage Servicing Collaborative was organized by the Urban Institute’s Housing Finance Policy Center. It includes representatives from a number of major servicers along with some officials from trade groups, consumer groups, investors, mortgage insurers, vendors and academics. The goal is...