SCOTUS Sides With City of Miami in Predatory Lending Case. The Supreme Court last week issued a narrow decision in favor of the City of Miami in a case stemming from losses the municipality claimed it suffered from predatory mortgages. Industry analysts are divided on what the ruling means for lenders... Goldman Sachs Continues Progress on Consumer-Relief Obligation Under Mortgage Settlements. Wall Street firm Goldman Sachs is more than one third of the way towards meeting its $1.8 billion consumer-relief obligation under the April 11, 2016, mortgage-related settlements it reached with the U.S. Department of Justice and the states of California, Illinois and New York, according to retired Boston University law professor Eric Green, the independent monitor of the consumer-relief portions of the agreements ...

Risk-retention requirements for MBS and ABS have been in effect for over a year, but industry participants are still grappling with how to comply with the standards, according to industry attorneys. Angela Ulum, a partner at the law firm of Mayer Brown, said industry practices and interpretations of the risk-retention requirements are starting to differ among different asset classes. During a webinar hosted by Mayer Brown last week, Ulum noted...

As of press time, Congress passed a one-week stopgap spending measure to keep the government open through May 5, averting a looming government shutdown. The House passed H.J. Res. 99 by a vote of 373 to 30. The continuing resolution has been sent to President Trump. The continuing resolution provides lawmakers sufficient time to negotiate an omnibus spending bill. The previous spending bill was scheduled to expire at midnight, April 28, which would have resulted in a government shutdown similar to the one that paralyzed the federal government in 2013. A shutdown can cause grief for sellers and homebuyers and severely delay processing of mortgage loans if lenders cannot verify a borrower’s tax data or Social Security number. This time, however, the FHA and VA are prepared for such an eventuality, said industry observers. A 16-day government shutdown in October 2013 sent millions of ...

President Trump Friday morning signaled his intent to nominate former regulator Pamela Patenaude to be the next deputy secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. According to a bio listed on the White House website, Patenaude is president of the J. Ronald Terwilliger Foundation for Housing America’s Families. She also served as HUD assistant secretary for community, planning and development during the George W. Bush administration. Patenaude’ s nomination had been expected for some time. She is expected to play a key role in shaping housing policy in the new administration and brings to the table a depth of knowledge about the industry. HUD Secretary Ben Carson was a career brain surgeon with little in the way of housing and mortgage experience. Meanwhile, industry lobbyists contend the White House continues to vet candidates for two other ...

The CFPB last week filed a massive civil damage case against top-ranked mortgage servicer Ocwen Financial, accusing the nonbank and its subsidiaries, Ocwen Loan Servicing, LLC, and Ocwen Mortgage Servicing, Inc., of “failing borrowers at every stage of the mortgage servicing process.” The agency alleges that Ocwen’s “years of widespread errors, shortcuts and runarounds cost some borrowers money and others their homes.” Ocwen allegedly botched basic functions like sending accurate monthly statements, properly crediting payments, and handling taxes and insurance. The agency added that Ocwen also illegally foreclosed on struggling borrowers, ignored customer complaints, and sold off the servicing rights to loans without fully disclosing the mistakes it made in borrowers’ records. Among the CFPB’s major allegations was that the ...

The CFPB was not alone in its crackdown last week on Ocwen Financial over its alleged mortgage servicing failures and violations. The same day the bureau announced its action, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi and Office of Financial Regulation Commissioner Drew Breakspear filed a federal civil consumer protection lawsuit against Ocwen and subsidiaries, Ocwen Loan Servicing, LLC, and Ocwen Mortgage Servicing, Inc., for what they called “mortgage servicing misconduct.” According to the complaint, Ocwen harmed citizens of the Sunshine State by filing illegal foreclosures, mishandling loan modifications, misapplying mortgage payments, failing to pay insurance premiums from escrow and collecting excessive fees. Ocwen services roughly 125,000 home mortgages in the state. The complaint, filed in federal court in West Palm Beach, ...

Ocwen Financial, stung by legal actions brought simultaneously last week by the CFPB and scores of state regulators, responded by issuing a detailed statement disputing the allegations made by state regulators and defending its business practices. “As with the recent CFPB enforcement action, Ocwen strongly disputes the key allegations made in the state regulators’ cease-and-desist orders that Ocwen’s mortgage loan servicing practices have caused substantial consumer harm,” the company said. “Ocwen will not sign unfair and unjust consent orders that make impractical demands that no other market participant could rationally accept, and which would harm consumers,” it added. “Under these circumstances, Ocwen has a responsibility to its customers, shareholders and employees to vigorously defend the company against unfounded claims while ...

The CFPB has put out a proposed rule to help mortgage lenders comply with the updates it made to the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act regulation back in 2015, most of which haven’t even taken effect yet. “The Home Mortgage Disclosure Act shines a much-needed spotlight on the mortgage market, which is the largest consumer financial market in the world,” said CFPB Director Richard Cordray. “Today’s proposal reflects the bureau’s ongoing and substantive engagement with stakeholders in the marketplace, and will help industry meet its new reporting obligations.” Among the suggested alterations in the agency’s proposed rule is the clarification of certain key terms, such as “temporary financing.” The CFPB wants to amend the commentary to the current final rule to ...

Industry representatives thanked the CFPB for making an effort to facilitate compliance with the pending Home Mortgage Disclosure Act final rule, most of which takes effect Jan. 1, 2018. However, the fact that revisions are being offered at all is a sign that the bureau just cannot get it right, according to some officials. Anne Canfield, executive director of the Consumer Mortgage Coalition, said her membership always appreciates any effort any of the regulators make to improve a regulation. “However, the CFPB’s proposed amendments to its HMDA regulation falls far short of what is needed,” she said. One of the CMC’s concerns is that since the bureau has not identified what it intends to do with the data, how does ...

The Trump administration’s Department of Justice has convinced the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to grant it 10 minutes to present its unusual case when oral arguments are heard in the upcoming en banc proceedings in PHH Corp. v. CFPB. “Upon consideration of the unopposed motion of the United States for leave to participate in oral argument, it is ordered that the motion be granted,” the appeals court said in its one-page order. PHH Corp. et al., as petitioners will have 30 minutes to make their case, as will the CFPB as respondent. “The United States agrees with petitioner PHH Corp. that the for-cause removal provision is unconstitutional, but agrees with the CFPB that the ...