Overall net losses in subprime auto ABS are on the rise due to an increasing number of deals from smaller lenders that cater to borrowers with weak credit. Amid this trend, however, subprime auto ABS performance varies by lender, according to a new report from Moody’s Investors Service. Moody’s analysts said competition among auto lenders has tightened as new, mostly smaller, lenders – driven by low losses on post-crisis auto loans and low interest rates – enter the market and compete for borrowers. The crowded market has driven...

Overall consumer complaints to the CFPB reached their lowest level in at least a year and a half, according to a new analysis and ranking by Inside the CFPB. Total gripes to the bureau slid 5.0 percent in the first quarter and were off 3.0 percent on an annual basis, data from the CFPB consumer complaint database show. Kvetching about residential mortgages was down slightly more, falling 6.7 percent and 4.1 percent, respectively, for those two time periods. In fact, mortgage-related belly-aching hasn’t been this low since the fourth quarter of 2013. The most dramatic change was seen in the prepaid card space, where criticisms plunged 73.3 percent in 1Q16. ... [with exclusive data chart] ...

U.S. Military Personnel Continue to Report Problems With Their Mortgages. Complaints to the CFPB from American military personnel about their mortgages rose 10 percent from 2014 to 2015, according to a recent report from the bureau. The good news for mortgage lenders is that total complaints about their operations – roughly 9,900 – were less than half of the total generated by debt collection practices, which came to about 20,500. ... FHFA Wants Public Input on National Mortgage Borrower Survey. The Federal Housing Finance Agency is seeking public comments about the American Survey of Mortgage Borrowers, an information collection effort otherwise known as the National Survey of Existing Mortgage Borrowers. ...

Standard & Poor’s kept its position as the top provider of ratings for newly issued non-mortgage ABS last year, although the volume of deals the company rated fell 10.1 percent from 2014, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS analysis. S&P rated ABS bonds totaling $106.86 billion in new issuance in 2015, or 61.5 percent of deals for which rating information was available. That was down slightly from its league-leading 64.1 percent share of the rated 2014 ABS market. The company’s strong suits were credit card ABS and deals backed by vehicle loans and leases. Fitch Ratings finished...[Includes two data tables]

The Department of Veterans Affairs has issued additional lender guidance for dealing with the public water contamination problem in Flint, MI. The guidance expands on the agency’s minimum requirements for properties backed by VA loans. The guidance refers to policy in the VA Lender’s Handbook which requires properties to have “a continuing supply of safe and potable water for drinking and other household uses,” before being approved for a VA-backed home loan. In the VA’s view, safe and potable water also refers to water used for bathing, showering and sanitary uses. Properties not in compliance with this requirement will not be eligible for the VA guaranty. Proper mitigation of lead-contaminated water must include a central filtering system that is acceptable to local health authorities and that can provide safe and potable water. Appraisers must comment and adjust for any ...

The U.S. District Court for the Central District of California last week granted the CFPB’s request for a final judgement against debt relief company Morgan Drexen, Inc., bringing to an end a lawsuit filed by the bureau back in August 2013. The agency alleged that the company and its leadership charged illegal upfront fees for debt relief services and misrepresented their services to consumers. According to the CFPB, when consumers signed up for Morgan Drexen’s services, the company presented them with two contracts, one for debt settlement services and one for bankruptcy-related services. Based on its investigation, the bureau brought suit alleging that consumers who signed up sought services for debt relief and not bankruptcy, that little to no bankruptcy ...

Last week, the CFPB asked the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California Southern Division to enter a final judgment and order that would shut down Student Loan Processing.US, and crack down on its sole owner, James Krause, for allegedly charging borrowers millions of dollars in illegal upfront fees for federal student loan services. The order would also require the company to pay refunds to thousands of consumers the bureau says were harmed, as well as a civil money penalty. In December 2014, the CFPB sued the company and Krause, alleging they illegally marketed and sold services promising to advise and assist borrowers applying for Department of Education student loan repayment programs. According to the bureau’s complaint, the ...

When the Securities and Exchange Commission issued a final rule in August 2014 setting disclosure requirements for publicly-registered MBS and ABS, one of the outstanding provisions was whether to apply the loan-level disclosure requirements to private-placement 144A deals. More than 18 months later, it’s unclear whether the SEC will increase disclosure requirements for private placements, though industry participants expect that some action is in the works. Charles Sweet, a practice development leader at the law firm of Morgan Lewis, noted that the SEC asked the Structured Finance Industry Group to submit refreshed comments regarding the outstanding provisions included in the so-called Regulation AB2 final rule. “They are...

Social Finance, the fledgling “marketplace” lender, is funding enough home mortgages on a monthly basis that it’s now scouting for opportunities in the secondary market, according to lending officials who have met with the firm’s management team. Among the options being considered is raising money to form a real estate investment trust, a vehicle that would provide a balance sheet where whole loans could reside. However, it’s unclear at this point if Social Finance, or “SoFi” as it is known, has any plans for securitizing residential product. Company officials including Michael Tannenbaum, who serves as vice president of mortgages for the startup, and William Jarve, in the firm’s capital markets group, declined...

The CFPB took two separate actions against Citibank last week for alleged illegal debt sales and debt collection practices. In its first action, the CFPB ordered Citibank to cough up nearly $5 million in consumer relief and pay a $3 million penalty for allegedly selling credit card debt with inflated interest rates and for failing to forward consumer payments promptly to debt buyers. The second action was taken against both Citibank and two debt collection law firms it used that allegedly falsified court documents filed in debt collection cases in New Jersey state courts. The CFPB ordered Citibank and the law firms to comply with a court order that Citibank refund $11 million to consumers and forgo collecting about $34 million ...