The CFPB’s final rule banning arbitration agreements, as well as pending rulemakings on payday and small-dollar lending and on debt collection practices, may live or die on the decision of Director Richard Cordray to exit his term before it expires in July. That prospect could be motivating him to linger in his current gig as opposed to resigning right now to enter the race for Ohio’s governorship, according to an analysis of the current lay of the land at the bureau from a former senior official at the agency. Former CFPB Assistant Director and Deputy General Counsel Quyen Truong, now a partner at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan in DC, noted that it is still unclear whether Republicans in the ...

On a combined basis, the three largest bank servicers reported a $45.06 billion reduction in their servicing for others.

George is presently the vice chairman of the Mortgage Bankers Association for the 2017 membership year.

As a result, they urge the GSEs to do away with the appraisal waiver program for now…

Black Knight estimates there are 1.18 million mortgaged properties in FEMA-designated disaster areas influenced by the hurricane...

The IMF, of course, has no jurisdiction whatsoever over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac…

The U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas indicted the former CEO of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas, along with two other former bank employees, for fraud.

The agencies saw an 8.6 percent increase in refi volume from July to August, roughly triple the growth rate of the purchase-money business…

Although Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae have all granted consumer forbearance on homes damaged by this season’s hurricanes, servicers must continue to make payments to MBS investors in most circumstances, a situation that could affect thinly capitalized nonbanks. In particular, smaller privately held nondepositories that became Ginnie issuers this decade could face some financial headwinds, depending on how heavily concentrated their business has been in the Texas Gulf region and south Florida. As Inside MBS & ABS went to press late this week, it was...

A former employee of Standard & Poor’s Rating Services beat fraud charges alleging she loosened S&P’s rating methodology for commercial MBS to generate business for her employer. However, she was found liable of the lesser charge of negligence for failing to disclose the change. In his initial Aug. 29 decision, Administrative Law Judge James Grimes of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s administrative court said that while Barbara Duka did change the firm’s rating methodology for CMBS, he found no evidence that she intended to manipulate, deceive or defraud investors. Rather, Duka, manager of S&P’s CMBS rating group, did...