Most (86 percent) of U.S. banks and credit union respondents in a recent survey by Wolters Kluwer Financial Services ranked the CFPB’s Truth in Lending Act/Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act Integrated Disclosure (TRID) rule as the top regulatory challenge facing their organizations. When asked about complying with the complex TRID rules, 32 percent of respondents cited “collaborating with stakeholders” as their top issue, while 24 percent identified “last-minute changes that trigger closing delays” as the top anticipated challenges. Another 17 percent cited “information technology preparedness” as the top challenge, while 18 percent were still unsure about the regulation’s greatest impact on their operations. Overall, concerns about regulatory compliance and risk management challenges rose 7 percent compared to WKFS’ survey from ...

CFPB Retracts Cordray’s Claim About Most Jumbo Mortgages Being Non-QMs. Questions from Inside Nonconforming Markets, an affiliated newsletter, compelled the CFPB to concede that Director Richard Cordray misspoke during a speech at the Mortgage Bankers Association’s recent annual convention in San Diego. In asserting that the CFPB’s ability-to-repay rule hasn’t caused a significant reduction in mortgage originations, Cordray referenced jumbo loans, “most of which are non-QM loans,” he said. “While comprehensive data on the non-QM share of jumbo mortgages are not available, a number of data sources suggest that most jumbos are in fact QMs, not non-QMs,” Inside Nonconforming Markets went on to note. Three of the five largest jumbo lenders told the newsletter most of their jumbos are QMs, ...

First Mortgage Corp., Ontario, CA, this month completed its liquidation, selling its branch network and $6 billion of servicing rights to other firms, and winding down a 44-year-old business that catered to FHA borrowers with lower credit scores. Jean Ziroli-Kobielsky, a recruiter for the family-owned business, noted that it wasn’t fear of regulatory oversight that prompted her father and brother to sell FMC, it was technology: “Some of our technology systems were still using DOS,” she told Inside Mortgage Finance. (DOS, or disk operating system, was the precursor to the Microsoft Windows software line for PCs.) She said...

Mortgage bankers have been obsessed with regulation for the past five years, with good reason. Yet there was a sense at this week’s annual convention of the Mortgage Bankers Association that the industry is ready to move on. The natural turning point is that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has wrapped up the major pieces of its rulemaking mandates from the Dodd-Frank Act. The new final rule on Home Mortgage Disclosure Act reporting was released late last week, and the widely-dreaded integrated-disclosure requirements went into effect early this month. The so-called TRID still doesn’t sit...

Earlier this month, the House of Representatives voted 303-121 in favor of H.R. 3192, The Homebuyers Assistance Act. The legislation would provide the mortgage industry with a regulatory and legal safe harbor until Feb. 1, 2016, for mortgages originated in good faith under the CFPB’s Truth in Lending Act/Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act Integrated Disclosure rule, otherwise known as TRID. The rule, designed to streamline the mortgage disclosures under the two laws, took effect Oct. 3, 2015, after nearly two years of notice from the CFPB. “The CFPB and House Republicans agree that a transitional period for TRID compliance which enables lenders to test their systems and ensures there is no large-scale disruption to mortgage lending is necessary,” said Rep. ...

ComplianceEase, an automated compliance solutions provider based in Burlingame, CA, has come out with an insurance-backed warranty program for loans that have been audited by its ComplianceAnalyzer solution. The program, called AssureCert, provides warranty coverage for compliance defects, including ones related to the CFPB’s Truth in Lending Act/Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act Integrated Disclosure Rule (TRID) and the ability-to-repay/qualified mortgage regulation, as well as federal and state consumer lending and high-cost laws and regulations. “The new QM and TRID rules have exposed lenders and investors to civil lawsuits, as well as fines and repurchase risk,” said John Vong, president of ComplianceEase. “Our insurance-backed AssureCert warranty will offer our clients – both large and small –additional protection and peace of mind.” The ...

Bank of America Pulls the Plug on All Marketing Services Agreements. Bank of America, the third-largest residential retail lender in the U.S., has pulled the plug on all marketing services agreements it has with realty firms, sibling publication IMFnews reported last week. The bank confirmed the move to the newsletter, noting that it will discontinue all “space rental agreement programs due to recent regulatory developments.” It added: “We expect our MSA agreements will conclude by Nov. 1, 2015, and we will terminate our lease agreements for space in accordance with their terms. While the decision to wind down our MSA and SRA programs was difficult, the end of these programs allows us to pursue different ways we might help builders ...

Mortgage lenders have entered a new, unfamiliar zone of regulation with the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure (TRID) rule, which became effective on Oct. 3. The Stratmor Group, a mortgage consulting firm, said reaching out to borrowers prior to loan closing increases borrower satisfaction significantly, which regulators may view as a positive indicator of good-faith efforts to comply with the complex new rule. “One aspect of TRID compliance is making sure that the customer ...

The CFPB and all of the prudential banking regulators will recognize the good-faith efforts of the mortgage industry to comply with the bureau’s Truth in Lending Act/Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act Integrated Disclosure (TRID) rule as of its effective date of Oct. 3, 2015. “During initial examinations for compliance with the rule, the agencies’ examiners will evaluate an institution’s compliance management system and overall efforts to come into compliance, recognizing the scope and scale of changes necessary for each supervised institution to achieve effective compliance,” said CFPB Director Richard Cordray, in a letter to industry trade groups. “Examiners will expect supervised entities to make good-faith efforts to comply with the rule’s requirements in a timely manner,” the director continued. “Specifically,...

The full House of Representatives is expected to vote sometime this week on legislation that would provide a regulatory and legal safe harbor for mortgages originated under the CFPB’s Truth in Lending Act/Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act Integrated Disclosure (TRID) rule until Feb. 1, 2016. Speaking of the legislation at issue, H.R. 3192, the Homebuyers Assistance Act, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-CA, said, “This bipartisan bill provides certainty to businesses that are trying to comply with the rule as well as an opportunity to work out any implementation issues that come up.” One industry observer who anticipates a “big margin” vote indicated he expects the bill will split rank-and-file Democrats from their caucus leadership. Meanwhile, industry readiness continues to ...