FHA Announces Revised Method for Calculating Initial MIP for HECM Refis. FHA has modified the formula for calculating the initial mortgage insurance premium for Home Equity Conversion Mortgage refinances with case numbers assigned on or after Sept. 19, 2017. The formula was modified on Nov. 14, 2017. The change conforms to the final rule FHA implemented last year to strengthen the HECM program. The revised formula has been posted on FHA’s HECM page on hud.gov, FHA Connection Release Notes, dated Dec. 28, 2017. The FHAC Release Notes outline the changes and processing instructions for lenders to calculate the initial MIP for HECM refis. HUD Releases Guide to Help Borrowers and Disaster Victims Avoid Foreclosure. The Department of Housing and Urban Development has released the Homeowners Guide to Success to help struggling homeowners and ...

CFPB Acting Director Mick Mulvaney has less than 200 calendar days left to occupy the director’s chair, so industry officials have been wondering what they can expect from the bureau as long as he’s in charge.According to some top compliance attorneys, the CFPB will be far less aggressive towards the industry, but hardly provide the corporate love-fest opponents of the AD fear. Laurence Platt, a partner with the Mayer Brown law firm in Washington, DC, told Inside the CFPB, “Like former Sen. George Romney’s famous prediction about the U.S. getting out of Vietnam, I expect a ‘phased withdrawal.’” The CFPB “will continue to supervise ‘covered persons,’ but, whether it is supervision or enforcement, I expect the CFPB’s use of ...

As 2017 came to an end, the CFPB and other federal prudential regulators informed the industry they would implement a “good faith efforts” enforcement philosophy toward lender compliance with the new requirements under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act that took effect Jan. 1. The CFPB in 2015 put out its rule under which financial institutions were required to collect and report new mortgage data points for loans made after Jan. 1, 2018. This past August, the bureau released a final rule that clarified some reporting requirements, increased the threshold for collecting and reporting data on home equity lines of credit for two years, and made various technical corrections. “The bureau recognizes the significant systems and operational challenges needed to meet ...

Banks are increasingly worried about staying compliant with all the recent regulations they’re contending with – and the new Home Mortgage Disclosure Act requirements are still one of the biggest concerns. A new regulatory and risk management survey from Wolters Kluwer based on 2017 data registered a 3 percent increase over 2016. “The ability to maintain compliance in an environment of heightened regulatory oversight – highlighted by a spike in the number of major new regulations – remained the biggest overall compliance concern, as cited by 67 percent of respondents,” the report stated. Concerns over fair lending regulatory examinations increased by 5 percent to 46 percent, and concerns jumped 13 percent in measuring the ability to manage risk across all lines of business ...

Judge Timothy Kelly of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia circuit heard oral arguments Dec. 22 in the dispute between CFPB Deputy Director Leandra English and the Trump administration over the appointment of Mick Mulvaney as acting director of the bureau. However, he has yet to issue any ruling and did not indicate when one could be expected. Attorney Theodore Flo, an associate with the Ballard Spahr law firm in Washington, DC, who attended the oral arguments, noted in a blog post, “Based on the judge’s denial of English’s request for a temporary restraining order and his questions and observations at the hearing, it seems likely that he will deny her preliminary injunction motion as well. English ...

Regardless of the outcome of the struggle for control over the CFPB in the wake of former Director Richard Cordray’s departure, lenders are being conservatively advised to maintain compliance practices that can withstand the ebb and flow of political appointees, according to one top compliance attorney.“While the Trump administration is pushing for deregulation and removing the independence of the CFPB, if it is successful, it may be risky and costly for the financial industry to abandon all of the concepts of fairness to consumers that have been embodied in the CFPB’s actions,” Maria Macoubrie, of counsel in the Kansas City, MO, office of the Stinson Leonard Street law firm, said in a recent online blog. She conceded that less ...

Democrat Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris of California, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut recently introduced legislation to allow state attorneys general and other state law enforcers to issue subpoenas during the course of investigations regarding compliance with state law by national banks. The Accountability for Wall Street Executives Act of 2017 would clarify that state attorneys general have authority to conduct visitorial oversight of federally-chartered national banks. It also would revise language in the National Bank Act that the Supreme Court interpreted as limiting the visitorial powers of state law enforcers when addressing compliance with state law by national banks. Additionally, the measure would permit subpoenas for suspected violations of real estate lending laws. “With ...

New Chief of Staff at CFPB was Staff Director of the House Financial Services Committee. The CFPB named a new chief of staff Jan. 5: Kristen Sutton Mork, who’s leaving her post as staff director of the House Financial Services Committee. The announcement did not come from the CFPB – it came from Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-TX, chairman of the HFSC, who mentioned it in an email sent to members of the media.... Republican Senator Wants Leandra English Investigated. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-WI, reportedly has asked the U.S. Office of Special Counsel to probe Leandra English’s move to “burrow” into a “career position” at the CFPB. One major broadcast news organization, citing a letter from Johnson, reported last week that Johnson asserted her move was “hastily approved” as part of “a flawed vetting process” in the wake of President Trump’s election. The report could not be immediately confirmed.

Syncora Guarantee, Inc., an insurer of structured-finance transactions, has settled a long-running dispute with Greenpoint Mortgage Funding over hundreds of millions of dollars in losses on bundles of soured home-equity mortgages held in trust.

Mortgage lenders and servicers chalked up a win following a federal appeals court decision that would make it harder for the government and whistleblowers to pursue a claim under the False Claims Act.