The Department of Veterans Affairs is seeking volunteers to test its redesigned servicing platform, the first phase of the agency’s ambitious plan to convert the platform into a fully automated end-to-end, integrated mortgage origination and servicing system. The VA has reached out to servicers connected to its VA Loan Electronic Reporting Interface (VALERI) to participate in the testing and transition process. The plan is to convert VALERI, which allows servicers to upload servicing data, ultimately into a complete automated underwriting and loan origination system. The system conversion effort aims to integrate all business lines, including loan origination, property valuations and mortgage servicing to improve performance of the VA loan program to increase usage by veterans and provide better customer service. It also aims to bring more transparency to the VA loan process and holding underwriters, originators and ...

California continued to lead all states in FHA and VA mortgage securitization in the first three months of 2018. The Golden State accounted for 15.3 percent of the $50.6 billion of FHA loans delivered into Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities in the first quarter. FHA loans comprised 18.2 percent of loans securitized by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae, and 34.6 percent of agency-securitized loans with primary mortgage insurance. About 66.6 percent of FHA loans securitized during the period were for purchase mortgages while refinance loans accounted for 27.5 percent. The average loan-to-value ratio of FHA loans in Ginnie pools was 93.0 percent. The average credit score of 668.2 reflected FHA’s traditional base of lower-income and first-time homebuyers, with an average debt-to-income ratio of 42.4 percent. The other states among the top five in terms of FHA deliveries into Ginnie pools were ... [Chart]

New York has enacted legislation redefining a reverse mortgage as a “home loan.” With the new law, statutory 90-day pre-foreclosure notices and certificates of merit would be required for all reverse-mortgage foreclosures in the Empire State. New York’s foreclosure settlement conference law has incorporated the new definition by reference, removing any doubt that such meetings are required in most reverse-mortgage cases, said industry attorneys. Gov. Andrew Cuomo, D, signed the amendment into law on April 12, 2018, though it is deemed to have been in full force and effect as of April 20, 2017. However, the pre-foreclosure notice requirement for reverse mortgages has an effective date of May 12, 2018. For actions commenced after May 12, the new state law requires lenders, servicers or assignees to provide a pre-foreclosure notice at least 90 days before initiating legal action against the borrower at the ...

Acting CFPB Director Mick Mulvaney said last week that the bureau will reexamine Obama-era regulations that protect consumers from discrimination in credit transactions. Mulvaney released a statement praising efforts by Congress and the White House to repeal bureau guidance that suggests indirect auto lenders are subject to liability under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act. He then said the bureau will reexamine the requirements of the ECOA ...

Small nonbanks want the CFPB to exercise the risk-based approach to supervision mandated by the Dodd-Frank Act, arguing that regulators don’t understand the sector’s business model. A group of over 50 lenders sent a letter to the CFPB last week asking the bureau to exempt smaller independent mortgage bankers from its examinations and audits. They argued that the Dodd-Frank Act requires the agency to exercise risk-based supervision, taking into ...

The CFPB’s request for information on enforcement has drawn a lot of attention from industry groups, consumer advocates and individuals. Acting CFPB Director Mick Mulvaney said the agency will end regulation by enforcement and stop pushing the envelope in its interpretation of the law. Trade groups have offered up numerous nitty-gritty suggestions on improving its enforcement practices. The agency “has made no secret about the fact that, over the ...

Banking groups had plenty of suggestions in response to the CFPB’s request for feedback on its supervisory activities, starting with better communication and coordination. The CFPB supervises banks with more than $10 billion in assets and nonbanks that offer consumer financial products or services. Trade groups railed against the agency’s so-called regulation by enforcement, and instead urged the bureau to provide more guidance. “To date, the bureau’s ...

A recent announcement by the Department of Housing and Urban Development to seek public comment on its 2013 disparate-impact rule is an opportunity for both HUD and the industry to clarify the liability issues it raises, said compliance experts. On May 10, HUD announced it would formally seek public input on whether the disparate-impact regulation is in tune with the Supreme Court of the United States’ 2015 decision in Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs v. Inclusive Communities Project, Inc. The HUD rule affirmed the use of disparate impact to establish liability for violations of the Fair Housing Act. It lays out a three-step approach to determining FHAct liability. The first step requires the plaintiff to demonstrate that a practice or a policy has a discriminatory effect on a protected class of persons. According to the rule, liability may be established even if the ...

PHH Corp. decided not to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court a lower court ruling that effectively overturned the CFPB’s controversial interpretation of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act under former Director Richard Cordray. The lender’s lawsuit also unsuccessfully challenged the constitutionality of the CFPB. In January, the en banc panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit sided with PHH on the RESPA components of the dispute, invalidating ...

Although there are fewer than two months left for Mick Mulvaney as the CFPB’s interim director, he continues to bring in his people to key positions in almost all divisions of the bureau, potentially weakening the role of career staffers. It is the first time that the consumer agency has experienced a political transition, and the new leadership appears to have adopted a dramatically different approach on how to treat consumers and the industry. To help reset the new political agenda at the ...