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Inside Mortgage Finance

June 22, 2017

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Home-Equity Lending Softened in Early 2017, But Unused HELOC Commitments Are Rising

U.S. mortgage borrowers were somewhat less eager to tap the equity they have in their homes during the first quarter, but they have plenty of dry powder in a market that’s expected to continue tilting away from refinance lending. Originations of home-equity lines of credit and closed-end second mortgages fell 5.0 percent during the first quarter to an estimated $46.0 billion, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis. Compared to the sharp 33.6 percent drop in first-lien production, the home-equity sector virtually glowed. The supply of home-equity loans outstanding fell...[Includes three data tables] Read More

Is It Too Late to Delay New HMDA Requirements? Industry May Only Have Weeks to Make its Case

The month of July may very well be do-or-die time for policymakers to decide whether they should delay implementation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s new reporting requirements under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act. “Regulators, and particularly members of Congress, don’t understand that if you’re going to delay the rule based on the technology implications of it, you really have to make a decision fairly far out before the rule becomes effective,” said Richard Andreano, a partner with the Ballard Spahr law firm in Washington, DC. He gave his remarks during a panel discussion at the American Bankers Association’s annual regulatory compliance conference, held in Orlando last week. In his judgement, July is... Read More

Movement Mortgage CEO Casey Crawford Buys a Bank; SoFi Seeks a Banking Charter

For most of the past decade, nonbank residential lenders have eschewed the idea of owning or being affiliated with a federally insured depository for fear of being over-regulated in an already heavily regulated business. But the tide could be turning. Movement Mortgage CEO Casey Crawford this spring bought a controlling interest in First State, a small Virginia bank. Separately, fintech lender Social Finance recently filed an application with the Utah Department of Financial Institutions to open a depository there. SoFi, which branched out from its consumer and student loan business into mortgages, also filed an application with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. for deposit insurance coverage. For now, both Crawford – a former professional football player – and the San Francisco-based SoFi aren’t... Read More

Nonprime Lenders Fill Variety of Niches, Many Programs With Less-Than-Full Documentation of Income or Assets

Lenders originating nonprime mortgages have a number of different programs for borrowers shut out of the agency market, including an emphasis on reduced documentation requirements. Deephaven Mortgage is among the lenders that have pooled newly originated nonprime home loans into mortgage-backed securities. The company’s recent $250.13 million MBS included a variety of loans, largely focused on non-qualified mortgages. Some 82.6 percent of the loans in the deal were... Read More

New House Legislation Would Allow REITs With Captive Insurers to Stay in the FHLBank System

Reps. Randy Hultgren, R-IL, and Gwen Moore, D-WI, want to restore Federal Home Loan Bank membership for captive insurance lenders that joined the system prior to the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s rulemaking that restricted membership of firms that would otherwise be ineligible. H.R. 289, the Housing Opportunity Mortgage Expansion (HOME) Act, would allow FHLBank members that were booted from the system to rejoin it, as well as the retention of those whose departure is pending, if they can demonstrate a commitment to residential mortgage activities. Most of the affected companies are real estate investment trusts. The sponsors explained... Read More

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Looks into Return of Settlement Monies Paid to Third Parties

Weeks after the Trump administration banned the practice, the Senate Judiciary Committee is looking into whether the Obama administration used mortgage-related settlement funds to funnel money to political organizations that Congress deliberately defunded. In a recent letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-IA, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, revived a standing request to the Department of Justice for a list of all settlement agreements reached during the previous administration that involved alleged payments to partisan community organizations. He gave the agency until June 28 to respond to his request. Specifically, Grassley asked... Read More

Lenders Still Have a Number of TRID Compliance Questions, May Take Years to Get the Rule Right

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s integrated-disclosure rule has been in effect for more than 18 months now, and industry compliance professionals still have a number of questions in need of answers as they await the issuance of the so-called TRID 2.0 rule from the agency. The rule had been expected in the first quarter of 2017, but to date, not a peep has been uttered by the agency as to the cause of the delay or when lenders might expect the final rule. The Treasury Department recently issued... Read More

Wells Fargo Denies Claims of Improper Use of Bankruptcy Laws to Force Debtors to Accept Illegal Loan Modifications

Wells Fargo Bank finds itself in yet another legal quagmire, accused of illegally making “stealth modifications” to mortgage payments of borrowers in bankruptcy without their permission – a charge the bank vehemently denies. A class-action lawsuit filed recently in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of North Carolina alleges that Wells Fargo made unauthorized mortgage modifications that neither the bankrupt debtors, their attorneys nor the bankruptcy court requested or approved. In some cases, 30-year loans were... Read More

Industry Veteran Mark Filler Racks Up $1 Billion from Investors, Has Plans for F&F, Broker Lending and More

Mark Filler, who departed “fix and flip” lender Finance of America Commercial early this spring, said he has amassed $1 billion of commitments from private equity investors and plans to enter the market once again, but this time as a buyer of properties. He also expects to launch a new business to provide advances to real estate agents based on their commissions, and then – if successful – roll out a similar program to fund mortgage brokers. He anticipates paying referral fees to mortgage companies that send business his way. “My goal is... Read More

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