The CFPB recently issued some policy guidance on how states may use the Uniform State Test developed by the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry as part of a qualified written test under the Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act of 2008. Section 1505(d) of the SAFE Act requires that state-licensed mortgage loan originators pass a “qualified written test.” Under the SAFE Act, this qualified written test must be developed by the NMLSR. A qualified written test must adequately measure the applicant’s...

Ally Financial, the former parent of bankrupt Residential Capital, announced last week it will pay $2.10 billion to settle legal claims with ResCap and its creditors as part of ResCap’s comprehensive settlement agreement and Chapter 11 plan. Under the settlement, Ally will contribute $1.95 billion in cash to the ResCap bankruptcy estate, plus $150 million in insurance proceeds. The agreement also requires that Ally receive full repayment on its secured claims, including $1.13 billion that is owed under existing credit facilities. Announced earlier this month, the agreement gets...

A recent Federal Reserve survey of bank lending practices further confirmed a continuing trend among FHA lenders of refusing to lend to borrowers with FICO scores below 620 even though they qualify for the loan and could afford the required minimum 3.5 percent cash investment. About a third of senior loan officers who responded to the April 2013 survey indicated they were less likely to approve FHA home-purchase loan applications within the 580-620 FICO range this year compared to last year. They prefer lending to borrowers with a 720 FICO and who are making a 10 to 20 percent downpayment, the survey showed. An estimated 75 percent of banks cited the ...

Warehouse lenders that finance nonbank mortgage firms continue to report strong commitment volumes and usage rates, but there is an underlying fear that the good times won’t last forever. Nevertheless, that’s not stopping their telephones from ringing. “We’re seeing more requests for increases in lines than decreases,” said a senior manager who spoke under the condition his name not be used. “Most of our lines are holding steady.” Bob Garrett, executive vice president of mortgage warehouse lending at First Tennessee Bank, said...[Includes one data chart]

Consumer advocate Ralph Nader doesn’t exactly have a seat at the mortgage reform table, but that isn’t stopping him from asking the Treasury Department to do something to protect what he calls “the already financially injured common shareholders” of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In a recent letter to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, Nader blames a host of senior government officials – including Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke – for misleading investors about the financial health of Fannie and Freddie just months before they were seized by the federal government in September 2008. Nader, a one-time shareholder in the government-sponsored enterprises, is pushing...

Loan originators seeking to exclude their compensation from the 3 percent points-and-fees calculation under the Dodd-Frank Act could consider becoming a correspondent lender or a net branch operator to skirt the restriction. But industry experts caution that such a plan has its own pitfalls. The possibility of brokers switching hats surfaced as the mortgage broker industry, once again, struggles against what it deems unfair restrictions on broker compensation. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau appears to have addressed some of these issues with changes to its ability-to-repay rule designed to eliminate double counting in the calculation of loan originator compensation. [See the story on page 5.] The inclusion of loan originator (LO) compensation in the calculation of points and fees under the CFPB rule raises...

Banks and thrifts saw another drop in their MBS holdings in the first quarter of 2013 despite holding their own against the Federal Reserve’s voracious appetite for agency MBS. A new Inside MBS & ABS analysis of bank and thrift call reports reveals that industry investment in residential MBS fell 1.1 percent during the first quarter of 2013 to $1.562 trillion. That was down 4.4 percent from the record $1.634 trillion of MBS held in portfolio by banks and thrifts at the end of the first quarter of last year. Banks reported...[Includes two data charts]

Even as industry chatter increases about an effort to extend the eligibility date of the Home Affordable Refinance Program, analysts speculate that more HARP may be too much of a good thing for the mortgage market. Analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cite evidence of a “creeping goal line” to move back by 12 months the June 1, 2009, cut-off date for HARP eligibility. KBW cites a Saturday morning address by President Obama earlier this month on the subject of refinance. “While he did not specifically mention extending HARP, we think an announcement could be coming over the next few weeks to extend the eligibility back one year,” said KBW. More telling, said BAML, is...

The Federal Reserve’s MBS purchase party isn’t over – yet – but it looks like the nation’s central bank is getting nearer to the last call. Late last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that officials at the nation’s central bank have developed a strategy for dialing back their unprecedented level of support of the housing market. The plan involves reducing the amount of bonds the Fed buys “in careful and potentially halting steps,” the WSJ said, with the purchases varying on the read officials have of the job market and of inflation. And although the timing of the Fed’s wind-down is...

Exactly one year after it filed for bankruptcy, Residential Capital announced this week it has entered into a “comprehensive plan support agreement” with its parent, Ally Financial, and ResCap’s creditors, who say they are owed some $25 billion in mortgage liabilities. The plan gets Ally out from under the threat of billions of dollars in lawsuits by settling all existing and potential claims between Ally and ResCap and all potential claims held by third parties related to ResCap that could be brought against Ally and subsidiaries that are not Chapter 11 debtors. The settlement, which is subject to approval by a federal bankruptcy court in Manhattan, fully releases...