If federal policymakers do away with the CFPB’s mortgage rules without proper replacements, the credit quality of residential mortgage-backed securities could be compromised, analysts at Moody’s Investors Service said in a recent report. The analysts were providing a review of President Trump’s recent executive order related to the Dodd-Frank Act. “Any significant repeal of the Dodd-Frank Act’s mortgage-related provisions without effective alternatives would weaken residential RMBS credit quality because these provisions have strengthened the credit quality of mortgage originations, improved servicing practices and bolstered the credit integrity of RMBS structures,” the analysts said. The report is significant because it flies in the face of the traditional industry narrative that the bureau’s mortgage rules have been nothing but an onerous burden ...

In a competitive mortgage market with increasingly knowledgeable and demanding borrowers, it is essential that originators implement proper processes and controls to produce accurate property tax data collection, analysis and estimation, according to an online blog posting by Dominique Lalisse, an analyst with CoreLogic. One of the critical components of the new loan origination process that has emerged under the CFPB’s Truth in Lending Act/Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act integrated disclosure rule is property- tax amount estimation for residential properties, she pointed out. “The estimating process is conducted during the initial stages of origination in order to complete the required loan estimate (LE) provided to the borrower,” Lalisse said. “With increased scrutiny around the preparation of the LE, lenders must ...

Two years after first proposing a regulation addressing mortgage servicing rights transfers, the Maryland Commissioner of Financial Regulation recently issued a revised iteration that could have a big effect on the mortgage servicing industry, according to attorneys with the Ballard Spahr law firm. According to a summary by the attorneys of the technical language of the proposed regulation, for any transfer of MSR involving at least 7,500 loans, the transferee servicer would have to report certain information to the commissioner at least 30 days before date of the transfer. Specifically, the transferee servicer would have to “report whether the transfer involves a subservicing agreement or an agreement for the sale of mortgage servicing rights; the names of the parties to ...

The Department of Housing and Urban Development is apparently poised to begin an investigation of allegations of redlining on the part of CIT Group, Pasadena, CA, through its CIT Bank subsidiary, the successor to OneWest Bank, after agreeing to accept a complaint against the lender filed by the California Reinvestment Coalition. The CRC alleges the bank violated and continues to violate the Fair Housing Act by providing residential real estate-related transactions in a manner that discriminates on the basis of race, color and national origin. Specifically, the complaint alleges that since at least 2011, CIT Bank discriminated in marketing and originating housing-related products, as evidenced by the low number of mortgages it made to African-American, Asian-American and Latino borrowers in ...

The CFPB recently issued a request for information into ways to expand access to credit for consumers who are “credit invisible,” that is, those who don’t have enough credit history to generate a credit score. The bureau issued the RFI to drum up public feedback on “the benefits and risks of tapping alternative data sources such as bills for mobile phones and rent payments to make lending decisions about consumers whose lack of credit history might otherwise block opportunities.” According to the CFPB, there are 26 million Americans who are credit invisibles. “Another 19 million consumers have a credit history that has gone stale, or is insufficient to produce a credit score under most scoring models,” said the agency. The ...

Could this be an omen of the decision to come? Earlier this month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit granted the CFPB’s request for an en banc rehearing in its controversial legal dispute, PHH Corp. v. CFPB. “Upon consideration of respondent’s [CFPB] petition for rehearing en banc, the briefs amici curiae in support of the petition, the response of the United States to the petition, the response of the petitioners [PHH Corp.] to the petition, the supplemental response of petitioners, and the vote in favor of the petition by a majority of judges eligible to participate, it is ordered the petition be granted,” 10 of the court’s 11 justices wrote in their ruling. One of ...

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-TX, is looking to retain the CFPB, restructure key parts of the agency, and drastically limit its authority, Inside the CFPB has learned.According to a draft memorandum of the major changes to Hensarling’s Financial CHOICE Act, now dubbed CHOICE Act 2.0, the bureau “is to be retained and restructured as a civil law enforcement agency similar to the Federal Trade Commission, with additional restrictions on its authority,” as follows: Sole director, removable by the president at will. Rule-making authority limited to enumerated statutes. Unfair, deceptive acts or practices authority repealed in full. Supervision repealed. Consumer complaint database repealed.•Market monitoring authority repealed. Enforcement powers limited to cease-and-desist and civil investigative demand/subpoena powers....

Rep. Tom Graves, R-GA, chairman of the House Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee, recently wrote to CFPB Director Richard Cordray seeking official clarification regarding the agency’s compliance with a memorandum entitled, “Regulatory Freeze Pending Review.” The memo was sent by White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, on behalf of President Donald Trump, to the heads of all executive departments and agencies late last month. The departments and agencies were generally directed to “send no regulation to the Office of the Federal Register until a department or agency head appointed or designated by the president … reviews and approves the regulation.” Further, regulations that have been sent to the OFR but not published in the Federal Register are to be immediately...

The CFPB recently brought a more traditional interpretation to its enforcement of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act in an action against Prospect Mortgage, two real estate brokers and a mortgage servicer that focuses on alleged kickbacks for referrals of mortgage business. Among the lender’s alleged violations of RESPA was the use of lead agreements to pay brokers for referrals. According to the CFPB’s consent order, Prospect entered into such agreements with more than 200 different counterparties, most of which were real estate brokers. Under these arrangements, Prospect paid the counterparty for each lead it received. However, these counterparties went “well beyond simply transferring information about prospective buyers,” the CFPB alleged. They also referred prospective buyers to Prospect’s loan officers....

In addition to bringing an enforcement action against Prospect Mortgage for alleged violations of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, the CFPB also acted against ReMax Gold Coast and Keller Williams Mid-Willamette, two real estate brokers, and Planet Home Lending, a mortgage servicer – all of whom it accused of taking illegal kickbacks from the lender. Specifically, the CFPB accused both brokers of participating in “certain lead agreements and desk license agreements” with Prospect Mortgage, and of accepting payments from the lender in exchange for referrals in violation of RESPA and its implementing regulation, Regulation X.The bureau also said RGC’s agents “required hundreds of consumers wishing to place an offer on one of their properties offered for sale to pre-qualify ...