With the potential for restrictions placed on Ocwen Financial to be removed in the near future, officials at the nonbank stress that Ocwen has transformed compared with when the restrictions were applied. Near the end of 2014, Ocwen agreed to a $150.0 million settlement with the New York Department of Financial Services. Among other provisions, the settlement required Ocwen to meet certain benchmarks and receive approval from the state regulator before acquiring ...

New York State Aligns State Law With TRID. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, D, recently signed into law Senate Bill S982, legislation that tweaks the existing state legal definition of the “consummation” of a mortgage loan to synchronize with the Truth in Lending Act/Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act Integrated Disclosure Rule promulgated by the CFPB.... Industry Need to Get TRID-Compliant Boosts DocMagic’s Bottom Line. Industry vendor DocMagic, based in Torrance, CA, late last week reported a 42 percent increase in revenue for 2016, due in large part to industry demand for products that enable compliance with the CFPB’s Truth in Lending Act/Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act Integrated Disclosure Rule, otherwise known as TRID....

A Georgia appellate court recently handed Wells Fargo Bank a provisional win in a lawsuit in which a VA borrower alleged breach of contract and wrongful foreclosure. In Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., d/b/a Wells Fargo Home Mortgage v. LaTouche, the court ruled that Wells did not breach its duty to the borrower to comply with VA foreclosure regulations. The court concluded that the trial court had erred in denying Wells Fargo’s motion for summary judgment as to the defendant’s claims for wrongful foreclosure that hinged upon the same VA regulations. The reversal stemmed from Wells Fargo’s request for an interlocutory review of the trial court’s denial of its motion for summary judgment on defendant Michael LaTouche’s claims for breach of contract, wrongful foreclosure and “surprise. An interlocutory review is undertaken when a question of law must be answered by an appellate court before ...

The nation’s residential subservicing specialists increased their contract base to $1.93 trillion at the end of 2016, a 2.7 percent sequential gain and an impressive 22.9 percent improvement over yearend 2015, according to survey figures compiled by Inside Mortgage Finance. It’s a sign that this segment of the industry is beginning to look a bit crowded, which means profit margins could come under pressure. Over the past year, several fairly large players in the market – Flagstar, Nationstar Mortgage, Walter/Ditech and PHH Mortgage – have sold...[Includes one data table]

A proposal by the Maryland Commissioner of Financial Regulation regarding servicing transfers prompted strong opposition from servicers, who cautioned that it would disrupt mortgage markets. In January, the Maryland CFR proposed a number of amendments to its mortgage regulations. The proposal revised an initial plan from the state regulator back in January 2015. The new proposal included...

Limitations spanning more than three years on Ocwen Financial’s ability to acquire servicing could be ending soon. Company officials stress that a resumption of servicing acquisitions will help Ocwen see some benefits from economies of scale. In the three years since the New York Department of Financial Services started preventing Ocwen from acquiring servicing, Ocwen’s portfolio has declined by more than 50.0 percent, hitting an unpaid principal balance of $209.09 billion ...

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 proposal by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to create a special-purpose national bank charter for financial technology companies, including marketplace lenders, stirred up significantly different views during a panel discussion sponsored this week by the Brookings Institute. “The fact that this charter will be designed as one not to support innovation, but to support the biggest and most well-funded players, ends up being bad for consumers because it tilts the market against the true innovators,” said Margaret Liu, senior vice president and deputy general counsel for the Conference of State Bank Supervisors. But, Richard Neiman, head of regulatory and government affairs for Lending Club and former New York state banking commissioner, said...

Marketplace lenders could benefit from the development of special-purpose national bank charters for financial technology companies under consideration by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, according to ABS participants. However, the proposal has been met with strong opposition from state regulators, as it would preempt state oversight of certain nonbanks. In December, the OCC requested comments about a potential special-purpose national bank charter for so-called fintech companies, including marketplace lenders. The Structured Finance Industry Group endorsed...

NY Acts to Hold Banks and Mortgage Servicers Accountable for Maintaining “Zombie Properties.” The New York Department of Financial Services recently finalized a regulation intended to protect communities from the blight of “zombie properties” by requiring banks and mortgage servicers to report and maintain vacant and abandoned properties.... Mortgage Servicers Face New Licensing Requirement in Kentucky. The Kentucky Department of Financial Institutions has decided to require both master servicers and subservicers to obtain a license as a mortgage loan company with the KDFI if the loans being serviced are secured by residential real property located in the state....