FHA lenders are uneasy over whether issues raised by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s new integrated disclosure rules could affect FHA lending. Although the issues cited by lenders are not FHA issues per se, these lenders are concerned that such uncertainties may cause problems for their FHA business, according to mortgage industry consultant Brian Chappelle, a principal at Potomac Partners. For example if a lender cures a mistake and the cure results in a reimbursement of, say, $100 to the borrower at closing, would that be considered a violation of the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s minimum 3.5 percent cash-investment requirement for FHA loans. “I don’t think it is a violation, but lenders are worried about how HUD might interpret it,” said Chappelle. “It is well after closing and it is obviously not a gift given to the borrower. It is ...

Quicken Loan attempt to have a governmen false-claim lawsuit against the lender moved from Washington, DC, to a federal court in Detroit will not necessarily secure a win, according to a mortgage industry attorney. “I think it was more the device Quicken needed in order to become the plaintiff instead of the defendant,” said one attorney who preferred to remain anonymous because his firm handles other legal matters for Quicken Loans. He said it does not matter whether the case is tried in Washington or Detroit but what matters is its actual substance. At the same time, there is no reason why those defenses could not be raised in a DC court, the attorney added. Last month, a federal judge in Detroit dismissed Quicken’s preemptive lawsuit against the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Justice Department for failure to state a claim. Ultimately, the court ...

The Department of Veterans Affairs has issued a clarification for non-borrower spouses on VA title documents, which apparently has created some confusion when lenders try to foreclose on VA-backed properties. VA is aware that lenders occasionally make loans to veterans who wish to use their home loan benefit to purchase a home and include their spouse in ownership, but the spouse does not wish to be on the mortgage loan. Including the spouse on the deed but not on the mortgage note can create a problem if the VA loan goes into foreclosure because the non-borrowing spouse’s ownership in the property could defeat the foreclosure action, the VA explained. “Delaying or preventing a foreclosure increases foreclosure claim cost to the government and the veteran,” the agency said. According to the VA guidance, when a loan is originated that includes a ...

The Department of Veterans Affairs has posted a chart on its web site showing the revised maximum allowable foreclosure timeframes for each state in 2016. State foreclosure timeframes are used in calculating the maximum interest payable on a foreclosure of a VA loan. They are subject to annual reviews and revised as needed. The chart reflects maximum allowable foreclosure periods that include the 210 calendar days for unpaid interest as well as foreclosure periods without the 210 days. Specifically, the chart shows timeframes the VA has determined to be “reasonable and customary” for all states, following an annual review of amounts allowed by other government-related home loan programs, such as FHA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The chart also lists the maximum amounts that will be paid on a claim processed in the ...

Radian Guaranty became the first among seven private mortgage insurers to declare compliance with the regulatory capital standards under the Private Mortgage Insurer Eligibility Requirements (PMIERs). Radian met its PMIERs goals after receiving $325 million in cash and marketable securities from its parent Radian Group in exchange for a surplus note. In addition, the parent firm contributed $50 million to an exclusive affiliated reinsurer of Radian Guaranty. Radian Group expects the capital cushion to increase based in part on expected future financial performance at its MI subsidiary. Monies from other sources, including a profit commission of about $8 million based on performance to date, and $8.5 million in prepaid supplemental ceding commission also contributed to the MI’s capital. Hence, Radian Guaranty is not expected to require any additional capital contributions in order to ...

CFPB Director Richard Cordray issued a letter to the mortgage industry over the holidays related to the TRID integrated disclosure rule, clarifying that the new rule includes a provision to “cure” certain mistakes, even after the fact. “The Know Before You Owe mortgage disclosure rule provides for the issuance of a corrected closing disclosure, even after closing,” Cordray said in a letter to Mortgage Bankers Association President and CEO David Stevens. “This can be used, for example, to correct non-numerical clerical errors or as a component of curing any violations of the monetary tolerance limits, if they exist. “As a general matter, consistent with existing Truth in Lending Act principles, liability for statutory and class action damages would be assessed ...

Some private investors are skittish about purchasing loans in the new TRID environment because of the potentially huge, and largely unspecified, liability that purchasers face on the secondary market under the bureau’s new integrated disclosure rule, according to some top experts. “What we’re seeing now, unfortunately, is that private investors, securitizers and such, are being gun-shy,” said Richard Andreano, mortgage banking practice leader in the Washington, DC, office of the Ballard Spahr law firm, during a recent webinar sponsored by Inside Mortgage Finance, an affiliated publication. “Because what we have is the bureau made clear that there was some liability associated with the TRID rule, not only pre-existing Truth in Lending Act liability, but perhaps now some liability for Real ...

The CFPB last week announced it wants public feedback on the resubmission of corrected mortgage lending data reported under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act. In October 2015, the CFPB finalized its HMDA rule that significantly expands the range of data will that be reported after becoming effective in 2018, with reporting beginning in 2019. “Given these changes, the current resubmission guidelines may need to be updated, and the bureau is seeking feedback on what modifications may be appropriate,” the agency said. Also, some industry stakeholders have asked whether the CFPB would adjust its mortgage lending data resubmission guidelines to reflect the expanded data that will be submitted under the new rules. The bureau’s request for information (RFI) lists a dozen ...

The CFPB’s new rulemaking related to the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act sets the stage for a more comprehensive regulatory environment in which a single mortgage could be monitored as it moves between lenders, is packaged into a security, or is handed off from one servicer to another, according to a new report from the Treasury Department’s Office of Financial Research. For those who may have missed it, in October 2015, the CFPB revised the reporting requirements under HMDA to include a universal loan identifier (ULI) and the postal address of the property securing each mortgage loan. The revisions also require a legal entity identifier (LEI) for the reporting entity and loan originator and the inclusion of data fields to monitor ...

The Government Accountability Office heard a lot of industry talk about the negative effects of CFPB regulations on mortgage lending during its review of the impact of the Dodd-Frank Act, but found little data from regulators to support such claims so far, according to a new report issued by the government watchdog. “The results of surveys conducted by regulators, industry associations, and academics on the impact of the Dodd-Frank Act on small banks suggest that there have been moderate to minimal initial reductions in the availability of credit among those responding to the various surveys, and regulatory data to date have not confirmed a negative impact on mortgage lending,” said the GAO. Some community bank, credit union, and industry association ...