Implementing the changes that the CFPB is proposing to its TRID rule will involve the deployment of a considerable amount of resources, time and energy, software vendors told the bureau recently. In a comment letter sent to the bureau, DocMagic said that many of the agency’s proposed changes would require a substantial amount of reprogramming by not only technology vendors but also by creditors, investors and settlement agents. “In addition, each programming change would need to be tested to ensure the software integrations among the thousands of companies in the industry work properly,” the company said. DocMagic also pointed out that it operates SmartCLOSE, which is a collaborative closing portal that allows creditors and settlement agents to collaborate to complete ...

Government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac recently expressed support for those portions of the CFPB’s TRID clarifying rulemaking that facilitate their Uniform Closing Dataset, which they developed to support the accurate disclosure of data on the closing disclosure. “The GSEs believe that the bureau should retain the current status of the sample forms, specifically, as model forms under the Truth in Lending Act and standard forms under the rule pursuant to authority under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act,” Fannie and Freddie said in a recent comment letter to the bureau. “Much of the required text of the integrated disclosure is dynamic. It is not contained in the blank forms, and instead is only illustrated when the form is ...

The CFPB’s latest supervisory highlights report provides some Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data collection and reporting reminders for 2017. For starters, beginning with HMDA data collected in 2017 and submitted in 2018, responsibility to receive and process HMDA data will transfer from the Federal Reserve Board to the CFPB. “The HMDA agencies have agreed that a covered institution filing HMDA data collected in or after 2017 with the CFPB will be deemed to have submitted the HMDA data to the appropriate federal agency,” the bureau stated. (The HMDA agencies are the CFPB, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the Fed, the National Credit Union Administration, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.) ...

The recent decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in the dispute between the CFPB and PHH Corp. has some significant enforcement implications for the bureau, according to a top compliance attorney. At stake in particular is the bureau’s authority to enforce federal consumer financial protection laws as well as the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA) prohibition of unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts or practices (UDAAP). In a recent client note, Barbara Mishkin, of counsel in the Philadelphia office of the Ballard Spahr law firm, noted that among the court’s findings was that the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act’s three-year statute of limitations (SOL) applies to the agency’s administrative enforcement actions. “Not only did ...

Vendor Provides TRID-Oriented Video Content. Fast Forward Stories, a Bellingham, WA, provider of “brand-able” video content for the mortgage, title and real estate industries, recently released a download-ready library of 26 mortgage explainer videos on the CFPB’s Truth in Lending Act/Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act Integrated Disclosure Rule (TRID).... ICYMI: Here’s What Happens to Fines, Penalties Levied by the CFPB. A new report from the Government Accountability Office summarizes what happens to the fines and penalties the CFPB imposes on financial institutions for mortgage-related offenses, as follows ...

Fannie Mae and SoFi introduced a new loan option last week that lets homeowners take advantage of low rates and use the equity in their home to pay down college loans. Under the Student Loan Payoff ReFi, homeowners can refinance mortgages and cash out while paying down an existing loan balance. Fannie estimates that just 1.8 percent of the cash-out mortgages it finances today are being used to pay off student loans. With cash-out refinances growing, Deutsche Bank said it expects to see refinance activity and mortgage-backed security issuance tick up. The new product is driven by cutting guaranty fees that usually accompany Fannie cash-out mortgages. GSE officials said they received approval...

Market analysts, observers and participants alike feel pretty much in the dark about what to expect from Republican President-elect Donald Trump when it comes to the fate of government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. “Mortgage finance legislation and the future of the GSEs was never discussed during the campaign so there are no clear indicators of what a Trump administration will do regarding the future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac,” analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods said in a post-election review. Complicating life for the new regime is...

As the new breed of subprime lenders continues to increase originations, these firms are now actively pondering whether they should approach the rating agencies about getting their firms rated. Dan Perl, founder and CEO of nonprime/non-QM lender Citadel Servicing, Irvine, CA, said his firm has approached Fitch Ratings and hopes to get rated as both a servicer and originator. Perl believes some of his competitors are going down the same path as well. He told...

Over the past couple of weeks, a battle has been brewing over the government’s response to a court order to release dozens of documents regarding the U.S. Treasury’s net worth sweep of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac profits. Plaintiffs in Fairholme Funds Inc. v. United States, et al, filed an emergency enforcement motion arguing that the government is purposely taking too long to produce the documents and requesting unnecessary extensions. Federal Claims Court Judge Margaret Sweeney ordered the Federal Housing Finance Agency and the Treasury to turn over 56 documents to the plaintiff’s attorney, under seal, back in mid-September. The agencies had been...