Some top compliance attorneys are optimistic that the CFPB under Acting Director Mick Mulvaney, or another President Trump appointee, will provide greater regulatory relief and clarity for lenders, and an easing of enforcement activity. Included in that mix could well be a return to the more traditional interpretation the Department of Housing and Urban Development had for the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act. Gerald Sachs, formerly senior counsel for policy and strategy at the bureau and now a partner with the Venable law firm in Washington, DC, told Inside the CFPB recently he anticipates that “mortgage rules would be amended or revised to lessen the regulatory burden, clarify industry concerns or issues, and allow more access to credit.” In addition, ...

It’s likely that mortgage lenders and servicers will get some degree of consideration and accommodation from the CFPB during the Trump administration, thanks to some reviews the bureau is required to make of its major rulemaking as per the Dodd-Frank Act. “The Dodd-Frank Act requires the CFPB to look back and conduct an assessment of each significant rule not later than five years after its effective date,” said former CFPB official Benjamin Olson, now a partner in the Washington, DC, office of the Buckley Sandler law firm, during a webinar last week sponsored by Inside Mortgage Finance. The purpose of this assessment is to look at the effectiveness of the rule in meeting its purposes and objectives under the statute ...

Consumer complaints to the CFPB about mortgage-related issues are on the verge of a free-fall, with volumes dropping by double digits, quarterly and annually, in every category tracked, according to a new analysis and ranking by Inside the CFPB. For starters, total gripes fell 15.9 percent from the third quarter of 2017 to the fourth quarter, and by 27.8 percent year over year. Digging into specific kinds of complaints, criticisms about loan modifications mirrored those trend lines, dropping 15.3 percent from 3Q17 to 4Q17, and by 29.2 percent on an annual basis. When it came to mortgage servicing, consumer kvetching was on a parallel track, down 13.0 percent and 26.4 percent, quarter over quarter and year over year, respectively. In ...

The game-changing ability-to-repay mortgage lending rule from the Consumer Financial Protec-tion Bureau took effect four years ago this month. At that time, regulators said there would be plenty of mortgage lending outside the parameters of the qualified-mortgage box. So far, however, that ex-pectation has yet to be realized.

The Federal Reserve Board last week wrapped up enforcement actions against 10 banks and im-posed fines against five of them after “sustainable improvements” in their servicing operations.

VA lenders may use third-party vendors to verify borrower income, employment and asset information subject to certain conditions, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs. Officials issued the clarification in response to lender inquiries regarding the use of third parties to determine if a borrower qualifies for a VA loan. The agency said it would accept third-party verifications if lenders are fully responsible for verifying the accuracy of information the borrower provided in the loan application. Lenders must initiate and receive all verifications of employment and deposits, requests for credit reports, and credit information. When a real estate broker/agent or any other party requests information regarding borrower income, employment or personal assets, the lender must identify the requester as its agent and ensure that any report is returned directly to them. In addition, the lender must disclose the ...

Ginnie Mae is redefining the term “defective mortgage” to remind issuers of their obligations when confronted by a mortgage that does not have federal insurance or guarantee. The action also clarifies options issuers may consider in dealing with defective mortgages. Under their guarantee agreement with Ginnie, issuers are required to cure, buy out or replace single-family mortgages or manufactured home loans that are missing the requisite FHA insurance or VA or U.S. Department of Agriculture guarantee within 120 days after the issue date of the mortgage-backed securities. Ginnie made clear that mortgages that do not have federal insurance or guarantee by the deadline for final certification of the related pool or loan package are defective. In addition, mortgages that have been rejected by FHA, VA or USDA, or for which federal insurance or guarantee have been withdrawn, are defective as ...

FHA Announces Revised Method for Calculating Initial MIP for HECM Refis. FHA has modified the formula for calculating the initial mortgage insurance premium for Home Equity Conversion Mortgage refinances with case numbers assigned on or after Sept. 19, 2017. The formula was modified on Nov. 14, 2017. The change conforms to the final rule FHA implemented last year to strengthen the HECM program. The revised formula has been posted on FHA’s HECM page on hud.gov, FHA Connection Release Notes, dated Dec. 28, 2017. The FHAC Release Notes outline the changes and processing instructions for lenders to calculate the initial MIP for HECM refis. HUD Releases Guide to Help Borrowers and Disaster Victims Avoid Foreclosure. The Department of Housing and Urban Development has released the Homeowners Guide to Success to help struggling homeowners and ...

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-MA, has questioned whether Mick Mulvaney, the acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, inappropriately capitalized on some Inspector General con-cerns about the agency’s data security to unjustifiably freeze the bureau’s collection of consumer per-sonal information, thereby compromising examiner oversight functions.

CFPB Acting Director Mick Mulvaney has less than 200 calendar days left to occupy the director’s chair, so industry officials have been wondering what they can expect from the bureau as long as he’s in charge.According to some top compliance attorneys, the CFPB will be far less aggressive towards the industry, but hardly provide the corporate love-fest opponents of the AD fear. Laurence Platt, a partner with the Mayer Brown law firm in Washington, DC, told Inside the CFPB, “Like former Sen. George Romney’s famous prediction about the U.S. getting out of Vietnam, I expect a ‘phased withdrawal.’” The CFPB “will continue to supervise ‘covered persons,’ but, whether it is supervision or enforcement, I expect the CFPB’s use of ...