Bank and thrift holdings of non-mortgage ABS hit a record $184.16 billion at the end of September, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS ranking and analysis. That represented a significant 7.6 percent increase in bank ABS investment in just one quarter. But the sharp increase in industry holdings was fueled by a massive acquisition of credit card ABS by TD Bank, the U.S. operation of the Canadian-based Toronto-Dominion Bank. TD Bank reported...[Includes one data chart]

The odds are stacked against auto loan ABS issuers being able to significantly lower the amount of credit risk they have to retain in securitizations under the recently adopted risk-retention rule. That’s mostly because of the strict underwriting criteria for underlying loans to qualify for the exemption from the requirement, according to a new ABS research report from Moody’s Investors Service. “Under the final risk-retention rule of the Dodd-Frank Act, auto loan ABS issuers can reduce the financial interest they must retain in their transactions through a qualifying automobile loan (QAL) exemption,” explained report authors Jeffrey Hibbs, assistant vice president, and Henry Chen, an associate analyst. Issuers can put...[Includes one data chart]

Last week, the CFPB initiated its first enforcement action against a “buy-here, pay-here” car dealer, DriveTime, which it accused of harming consumers by allegedly making harassing debt collection calls and providing inaccurate credit information to credit reporting agencies. DriveTime must pay $8 million as a civil money penalty, end what the bureau characterized as unfair debt collection tactics, revise its credit reporting practices, and arrange for harmed consumers to obtain free credit reports. Phoenix-based DriveTime Automotive Group Inc. and its finance company, DT Acceptance Corp., make up the largest buy-here, pay-here car dealer in the nation, according to the CFPB. “Buy-here, pay-here” means that the dealer sells the car as well as originates and services the auto loan. These kinds ...

The CFPB last week proposed sweeping changes for the booming prepaid card market, aiming to mandate new disclosures, error-resolution procedures, consumer liability limits for unauthorized transactions, fee limits, and added requirements for cards with overdraft or credit features. This proposal would apply a number of specific federal consumer protections to broad swaths of the prepaid market for the first time. The proposal would cover traditional plastic prepaid cards, many of which are general purpose reloadable cards. In addition, the proposal would cover mobile and other electronic prepaid accounts that can store funds. The prepaid products covered by the proposal also include: payroll cards; certain federal, state and local government benefit cards such as those used to distribute unemployment insurance, child ...

The CFPB put out a bulletin last week advising lenders not to create illegal hurdles for recipients of Social Security Disability Income who apply for mortgages, warning that requiring unnecessary documentation from such consumers could raise fair lending risk. The new bulletin discusses standards and guidelines on verification of SSDI, including those under the CFPB’s ability-to-repay rule, the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s standards for FHA loans, the Department of Veterans Affairs’ standards for VA-guaranteed loans, and guidelines from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The bureau begins by noting that to verify income for qualified mortgage debt-to-income ratios under the ability-to-repay rule, lenders are required to look at whether the Social Security Administration benefit verification letter or equivalent document ...

A new study commissioned by the American Financial Services Association found significant bias and high error rates in the proxy methodology used by the CFPB to determine discrimination in the indirect auto finance market. Central to the study was an examination of the Bayesian Improved Surname Geocoding (BISG) proxy methodology used by the CFPB to determine a disparate impact to legally protected groups. BISG estimates race and ethnicity based on an applicant’s name and census data. AFSA’s study calculated BISG probabilities against a test population of mortgage data, where race and ethnicity are known. One of the primary findings was that when the proxy uses an 80 percent probability that a person belongs to an African American group, the proxy ...

CFPB eClosing Program Will be a Plus, Eventually. The eClosing initiative launched earlier this year by the CFPB will ultimately be beneficial to the mortgage industry, once all the big wrinkles are ironed out, according to analysts at DBRS, formerly Dominion Bond Rating Service. “Many of the elements that make up eClosings are already being used in other consumer and commercial loans (such as auto loans and equipment lending), so much of the process should be easy to replicate,” the analysts said in a client note last week. “However, it is the uniqueness of the mortgage industry that will present some challenges.” For instance, there are real estate statutes for real property, compared with the Uniform Commercial Code for personal ...

Banks and thrifts held a combined $1.535 trillion of residential MBS at the end of September, a modest 0.6 percent increase from the previous quarter, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS analysis of bank call reports. Bank MBS holdings had spiked higher in the first quarter of this year, only to fall back in the following period. Compared to a year ago, the industry’s aggregate MBS portfolio was up 1.4 percent. Bank and thrift MBS holdings first crossed...[Includes two data charts]

Top mortgage finance professionals and government officials gathered in New York City last week to discuss the prospects for the non-agency MBS market, and their assessments were all over the board, a sign of the uncertainty many participants have about trying to resuscitate a stagnant sector. “It’s been seven years since the financial crisis, and certainly a lot of things have changed,” said Rui Pereira, managing director at Fitch Ratings, during a panel at the non-agency MBS reform symposium sponsored by the Structured Finance Industry Group and Information Management Network. He then cited...

The head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency told Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee members this week that a decision on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac guaranty fees will come soon after the New Year. In his first oversight hearing since taking the reins of the agency in January, FHFA Director Mel Watt stated during questioning that the regulator of the government-sponsored enterprises will make its move on g-fees during the first quarter of 2015. In one of his first acts as FHFA director, Watt postponed...