A complaint has recently been filed in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in an attempt to initiate a class-action case against PHH Corp. and Realogy Holdings Corp. and some of their subsidiaries and affiliates for allegedly deceptive and collusive practices in violation of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act. The case references and appears to be inspired, at least in part, by the enforcement action the CFPB brought against PHH in 2014 in which the bureau alleged the lender violated RESPA by illegally referring borrowers to mortgage insurance companies in exchange for kickbacks. In that case, PHH Corp. v. CFPB, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia is set to hear oral arguments on ...

Will TRID Errors Crimp Earnings? Market observers have been hearing reports that TRID errors and closing delays definitely will be affecting first quarter 2016 earnings, at least for certain nonbanks. The big test for nonbank mortgage stocks is expected to come later this month when PHH Corp., the parent of PHH Mortgage, the nation’s ninth largest servicer, reports 4Q15 results. PHH, which is battling the CFPB over RESPA issues, also has been smacked around by servicing write-downs. It likely got some relief on that score in 4Q15. Stay tuned... CFPB Tries to Clear the TRID Air on Construction Loans. Not only has the CFPB’s TRID rule delayed closings in the conventional market, but it’s being reported that the regulation has ...

DocMagic Software Product Certified for TRID. DocMagic, a provider of document preparation, compliance, eSign and eDelivery solutions, recently received certification for its SmartCLOSE software product by the Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization, a nonprofit subsidiary of the Mortgage Bankers Association. Specifically, SmartCLOSE has been awarded what is known as a Standard Level Certification for the TILA/RESPA Integrated Disclosure (TRID) rule. According to the MBA, the objective behind SmartCLOSE is to bring lenders, settlement service providers, and other relevant entities together inside a secure environment to share, edit, validate, audit, track and collaborate on documents, data and fees. SmartCLOSE received Standard Level certification for MISMO Version 3.3 within the TRID business domain. “With the Uniform Mortgage Data Program (UMDP) quality initiatives ...

TRID Webinar to Focus on Construction Lending Issues. The Federal Reserve next month plans to host officials from the CFPB to present a webinar on questions related to the bureau’s integrated disclosure rule in the context of construction lending. The event is to be held Tuesday, March 1, 2016, from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. Eastern time. Those interested in viewing the live event may register online at https://www.webcaster4 .com/Webcast/Page/577/13246. Additional information and resources related to the TRID rule may be accessed at the CFPB’s website. CFPB the Target of House Republicans Again This Week. The House Financial Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit plans to examine the CFPB’s “assault on access to credit and trampling of ...

Wells Fargo Settles with FHA for a Record $1.2 Billion. Wells Fargo, the largest player in the Ginnie Mae market, last week agreed to pay the Department of Justice and Department of Housing and Urban Development $1.2 billion to settle FHA underwriting claims. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Wells noted that the agreement “resolves certain civil claims that the federal government had pending” against the lender tied to FHA lending from 2001 to 2010. But it also covers “other potential civil claims relating” to the megabank’s government production in other time periods as well. The megabank, which also is the nation’s largest overall home lender and servicer, saw the settlement coming and booked an additional “legal ...

Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae produced a combined $88.96 billion of single-family MBS in January, a modest 1.4 percent decline from December, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside MBS & ABS. Ginnie production was actually up 7.2 percent from the previous month, while both the government-sponsored enterprises posted declines in new issuance. January’s agency MBS production included...[Includes two data tables]

Different factions of the mortgage industry are strongly urging the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to place its yearend “clarifying letter” on TRID errors into the Federal Register, believing that it would provide stronger legal protection. According to interviews conducted by Inside Mortgage Finance, TRID errors – even minor ones – continue to be a chief reason why certain secondary market investors are rejecting mortgages, in particular non-agency product. The fear for these investors is assignee liability, that they could be sued for TRID errors even though they had nothing to do with the loan’s origination. One paragraph in the Dec. 29 letter from the CFPB to the Mortgage Bankers Association begins...

With nonbanks fearing they could be stuck with error-laden mortgages that violate the integrated disclosure rule, a secondary market has developed for this new breed of “scratch and dent” loans, according to interviews conducted by Inside Mortgage Finance. One investor, requesting his firm’s name not be identified, said his shop bought such a mortgage for 90 cents on the dollar. Participants in the market – including investors and traders – concede...

Existing home sales increased by 14.7 percent in December compared with the previous month, according to data from the National Association of Realtors, suggesting that issues involving the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s disclosure rule were temporary. NAR said 5.46 million sales of existing homes were completed in December, on a seasonally adjusted basis, up from 4.76 million the previous month, marking the largest monthly increase ever recorded by the group, on a percentage basis. Existing home sales in November were down by 10.5 percent from the previous month as lenders grappled with the new TRID disclosure rule. “While the carryover of November’s delayed transactions into December contributed greatly to the sharp increase, the overall pace taken together indicates...

The mortgage industry’s continued use of marketing services agreements and other affiliated business arrangements hangs in the balance in a long-running dispute between PHH Corp. and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which will be the subject of oral arguments April 12, 2016, before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. “The PHH appeal is one of the most important Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act opinions to be decided by the courts in decades,” legal expert Phillip Schulman told Inside Mortgage Finance this week. “It will determine whether Section 8(c)(2) of the act merely clarifies the Section 8(a) anti-kickback provisions of the statute, as CFPB Director Richard Cordray claims, or whether it creates a safe harbor that exempts payments from a RESPA violation if those payments are for goods provided or services rendered, as the plain language of the act and several previous circuit courts have held.” Further, “This appeal will have...