The CFPB recently ordered Meridian Title Corp., a real estate settlement agent and title insurance agency in South Bend, IN, to pay up to $1.25 million in redress to consumers who were allegedly steered to a title insurer owned partly by several of Meridian’s executives without disclosing the affiliation. According to the bureau’s consent order, Meridian issues title-insurance policies, provides mortgage loan settlement servicers, and conducts loan closings in connection with residential real estate transactions. In its role as title policy issuing agent, the company procures policy orders from borrowers and lenders and issues title commitments, final policies and related endorsements. As a settlement agency, Meridian facilitates the real property and mortgage loan settlement services required to close the mortgage ...

A greater percentage of community banks are making mortgages this year than the year before, but the mortgage regulations from the CFPB continue to cause some smaller institutions to ditch that line of business, according to a new survey conducted by the Conference of State Bank Supervisors and the Federal Reserve System. Mortgage lending is still a prominent activity among the more than 600 community banks surveyed, with 1-4 family, fixed-rate lending identified by more than 80 percent of respondents as a product currently offered that would continue to be provided. “This is higher than the 76 percent reported last year and contrasts, to some extent, with the five percent of banks that last year planned to exit from or ...

The CFPB made a big splash last week – perhaps the last of Richard Cordray’s career at the helm – by issuing its long-awaited payday lending final rule. Many observers watching the director for signs he will resign to run for governor of Ohio have speculated he has been hanging on at the bureau until this rule was formally promulgated. Now that it has been issued, the Cordray departure watch will resume. Under the new rule, there’s a full-payment test. Lenders are required to determine whether the borrower can afford the loan payments and still meet basic living expenses and major financial obligations. For payday and auto title loans that are due in one lump sum, full payment means “being able to ...

Organizations representing a variety of financial and business interests have jointly filed suit in a bid to deep-six the controversial arbitration rule issued earlier this year by the CFPB. The litigation was filed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, along with the American Bankers Association, the American Financial Services Association, the Consumer Bankers Association, the Financial Services Roundtable, the Texas Association of Business, the Texas Bankers Association, and a coalition of chambers of commerce throughout Texas. The groups are challenging the constitutionality and legality of the CFPB’s rule. Their basic position is that the rule effectively precludes the use of arbitration agreements in disputes between consumers and providers of consumer financial products and services, and instead renders class-action litigation the ...

A new report from the CFPB Office of Inspector General suggests the consumer bureau may have been in too much of a hurry to get more examiners into the field, compromising the quality of their training and their effectiveness. The CFPB’s Supervision Learning and Development (SL&D) unit has taken steps to enhance the Examiner Commissioning Program (ECP) since its implementation in October 2014, according to the report. However, there apparently were some pretty big holes left. For starters, the OIG found some examiners appeared to be pursuing parts of the examiner program before they were fully prepared, which limited their likelihood of success and affected employee morale. “Further, when examiners require multiple attempts to pass ECP components, they are not ...

The CFPB needs to improve the way it informs recipients of its civil investigative demands (CIDs) of the purpose of its investigations, according to a recent report from the bureau’s Office of Inspector General.At issue are the CFPB’s internal guidelines for crafting notifications of purpose associated with CIDs. The guidance calls for broad statements of purpose, to allow for flexibility, the OIG noted. However, “The guidance does not expressly remind enforcement attorneys of the need for statements of purpose to be compliant with relevant case law on notifications of purpose, including any developments in such case law, or remind them to revisit the statement of purpose in a revised opening memorandum if the purposes of the investigation evolve.” The ...

Did DoJ Opine on Ocwen v. CFPB? No One’s Talking. Earlier this year, Ocwen Financial asked Judge Kenneth Marra of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, West Palm Beach Division, to invite the U.S. attorney general to appear and participate in the company’s challenge to the constitutionality of the CFPB.... Last Call for Public Comments on TRID ‘Black Hole’ Proposal. The industry has until 11:59 p.m. Oct. 10, 2017, to submit comments to the CFPB regarding its proposal to close the “black hole” associated with the bureau’s integrated disclosure rule under the Truth in Lending Act and the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act....

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has asked its inspector general for some leeway in making much needed changes to ensure servicers are employing loss mitigation. Responding to an audit, HUD asked the IG to modify some of the recommendations to enable the agency to make policy changes where needed and in a suitable format. HUD also requested that recommendations regarding indemnification and servicing be tweaked so that remedies will be required only when a deficiency is found. The IG audit was based on the result of an analysis, which showed that servicers may not be always evaluating delinquent FHA borrowers for loss mitigation as required and that HUD’s oversight in this area is weak. According to the findings, HUD did not have adequate controls to ensure that servicers of FHA-insured single-family loans properly engaged in ...

Wells Fargo recaptured its crown as the leading VA jumbo securitizer, pushing Penny Mac back to second place even as the market dropped further in the second quarter. The volume of VA jumbo loans securitized during the second quarter declined by 5.2 percent from the prior quarter and by 11.8 percent during the first half of 2017 compared to the same period last year. VA jumbo mortgage originations were off by 4.3 percent from the first quarter, according to an analysis by Inside FHA/VA Lending affiliate Inside Mortgage Finance. Agency-jumbo production sagged in the second quarter but the results were not uniform. Fannie Mae production was up 6.5 percent from the prior quarter, while FHA jumbo securitization gained 7.2 percent during the period. At the same time, VA jumbo securitization was down 5.2 percent to $7.4 billion from $7.8 billion, while Freddie Mac saw a hefty 27.8 percent drop in ... [Charts]

A previously obscure FHA program for properties in designated disaster areas is getting more interest from lenders in the wake of hurricanes Harvey and Irma. According to FHA data, there has been a noticeable increase in loans originated under the FHA 203(h) mortgage insurance program, which is designed specifically for hard-hit homeowners in presidentially declared major disaster areas (PDMDA). Origination under the 203(h) program rose from $17.8 million in 2015 to $64.1 million in 2017, data showed. Use of the 203(h) product spiked in the fourth quarter of 2016, when 180 loans totaling $34.0 million were originated, up from 47 in the previous quarter and 26 loans from the same period in 2015. The U.S. experienced more floods in 2016, 19 in all, than any year on record, according to an analysis by Munich Re, a global reinsurance firm. In post-hurricane guidance, FHA urged lenders to ...