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Inside Mortgage Finance

December 4, 2014

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Refinance Originations Gained Some Momentum In 3Q14 as Purchase Market Began to Cool

Mortgage lenders have been chasing purchase-mortgage business since the refinance market started to subside early in 2013, but the refi sector showed considerable strength during the third quarter of this year, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance ranking and analysis. Refinance originations increased by 21.4 percent from the second quarter to the third, with an estimated $136 billion in production volume. At the same time, purchase-mortgage originations rose by just 5.6 percent, to an estimated $209 billion. Refi lending is...[Includes five data charts] Read More

FHFA Still Working on Capital and Liquidity Standards For Nonbanks; A December Unveiling Pushed Into 2015?

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is continuing to work on new standards that will dictate not only how much capital nonbank servicers must retain, but how much in liquidity reserves they will need, according to industry analysts and advisors familiar with the topic. Moreover, these officials believe that some type of unveiling of those standards – originally planned for December – has been pushed into the first quarter of 2015. “One problem [the] FHFA is facing is... Read More

FHFA Advisory Bulletin Outlines Risk-Based Oversight Framework for Fannie, Freddie

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should each implement a board-approved risk-management framework that specifically includes risk-based oversight of single-family seller/servicers, according to an advisory bulletin issued this week by the Federal Housing Finance Agency. The new “supervisory expectation” covers numerous seller/servicer oversight activities that the government-sponsored enterprises have done for years, albeit pulling them all together under a comprehensive framework. It implements a recommendation made by the FHFA inspector general in July, which expressed concern that the regulator is not paying enough attention to the financial condition of certain nonbank servicers that make up a growing share of Fannie/Freddie business. “FHFA expects... Read More

Warehouse Commitments Up Slightly in 3Q; Pricing For Nonbank Borrowers the Best it Has Been in Years

Warehouse lenders increased the dollar volume of their commitments to an estimated $31 billion in the third quarter, a 3.3 percent sequential improvement, according to survey figures compiled byInside Mortgage Finance. Compared to the same quarter a year ago, commitments fell by 11.4 percent. But a commitment to lend is just that. Many nonbank borrowers rack up commitments, but the real test of the health of warehouse lending is in usage rates. At First Tennessee Bank, for example, its commitments were...[Includes one data chart] Read More

Private MIs Supportive of MBA Proposal for Front-End Risk-Sharing but Want PMIERs to be Finalized First

Private mortgage insurers would support a front-end, risk-transfer program that makes greater use of MI, such as the one proposed by the Mortgage Bankers Association, to reduce taxpayer risk, according to MI executives. The MIs are interested in moving forward with a year-old MBA proposal for a risk-sharing program that would allow deeper MI coverage on loans with high loan-to-value ratios, and coverage on loans with LTVs below 80 percent, accompanied by a reduction in guaranty fees. Importantly, this would require lowering the floor on loss factors to account for these lower-risk loans, the MBA said. However, two important things must be... Read More

FHFA Policy Directive Allows Some Former Foreclosed Borrowers to Purchase Home From Fannie, Freddie REOs

Some foreclosed homeowners may have the option to repurchase their homes at fair market value following a new directive from the Federal Housing Finance Agency that calls for the two government-sponsored enterprises to relax policies related to the sale of real estate owned properties to defaulted borrowers. The two government-sponsored enterprises until now have required foreclosed borrowers that want to purchase their home from REO inventory to pay the full amount of the unpaid debt on their previous mortgage. “This is... Read More

SCOTUS Hears Oral Arguments in Overtime Cases, While Another Disparate Impact Case Approaches

This week, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two consolidated cases on whether the overtime provisions in the Fair Labor Standards Act apply to mortgage loan officers – and the narrower question of whether federal agencies have the authority to make regulatory changes without using the “notice and comment” rulemaking process. Both cases involve the Mortgage Bankers Association as the respondent. The U.S. Department of Labor argued... Read More

State Regulators Increase Reporting Requirements, Focusing on Servicing and Qualified Mortgages

State-regulated lenders and servicers will be required to report new information on servicing and originations to regulators beginning in the first quarter of 2015. Lenders weren’t able to win many concessions from the Conference of State Bank Supervisors, which proposed reporting changes for the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System & Registry’s Mortgage Call Reports in October. The State Regulatory Registry, a subsidiary of the CSBS that operates the NMLS on behalf of state regulators, positioned the reporting requirements as part of an effort to reduce regulatory burden for lenders. “A goal of the MCR is... Read More

Joint Agency Final Rule on Minimum Requirements For Appraisal Management Companies Coming Soon

The multi-agency final rule implementing the Dodd-Frank Act appraisal-related amendments to the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act is expected sometime this month, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s semi-annual regulatory agenda. The amendments made by Dodd-Frank to FIRREA require new minimum requirements to be applied by states in the registration, reporting and supervision of appraisal management companies (AMCs). They further require implementing regulations for new quality control standards for automated valuation models (AVMs) “designed to ensure a high level of confidence in the estimates produced by the valuation models.” The pending regulations also are... Read More

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