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Inside Mortgage Finance

April 27, 2017

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Mortgage Originations Down Sharply in 1Q17 As Virtually All Top Lenders Post Big Declines

Production of new first-lien home mortgages fizzled in the first quarter of 2017 as the bottom fell out of the refinance market and home sales slumbered, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance ranking and analysis. An estimated $385.0 billion of new first-lien mortgages were originated in the first three months of the year, a 33.6 percent downturn from the fourth quarter of 2016. It likely did not mark the end of the world, however. For starters, the fourth quarter of last year surprised on the upside – at $580.0 billion, it was the second-highest quarterly volume in the previous four years. And the start of 2017 was...[Includes two data tables] Read More

Mortgage Execs at Public Firms Got Big Paychecks In 2016 That Didn’t Always Match a Lender’s Results

In general, 2016 was a banner year for loan production with some publicly traded nonbanks turning in their best results ever – and thus rewarding their top executives handsomely. According to an analysis of available proxy statements by Inside Mortgage Finance, Penny Mac Financial Servicers founder and Executive Chairman Stanford Kurland was the industry’s top earner at $9.12 million in 2016. His firm – the nation’s number-four ranked originator – had a good year: net income of $336 million, a 26.0 percent improvement from the year before. Back in 2015, Kurland took...[Includes one data table] Read More

Financial CHOICE Act Would Gut CFPB, Make Multiple Changes to Mortgage Rules

Late last week, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-TX, released a detailed discussion draft of a revised version of his Financial CHOICE Act that would eviscerate the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and make a number of other changes to the Dodd-Frank Act and a host of its mortgage-related regulations. Title VII of the draft, recently dubbed CHOICE Act 2.0, would dismantle the parts of the CFPB that the lending industry and other critics have found to be most problematic: its rulemaking, supervisory and enforcement authority, including unfair, deceptive or abusive acts or practices. The previous version of the bill would have retained... Read More

With Its Back Against the Wall, Ocwen Takes the Battle With Regulators to Court, Challenging CFPB Structure

Ocwen Financial – its financial future hanging in the balance – this week filed court documents challenging the constitutionality of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which late last week brought civil charges against the $200 billion servicer. Ocwen is hardly new to regulatory scrutiny, but this time around the situation is different. Just when it thought it had cleaned up its act on servicing residential borrowers, it was sued by the CFPB and smacked with cease-and-desist orders from at least 24 states. Those orders – which the company is already challenging in court – prevent... Read More

Some Variety in Post-Crisis Nonprime Mortgage Originations: Less-than-Full Income Documentation or Lower Credit Scores

The market for new nonprime mortgages includes some options for borrowers, allowing for income verification via bank statements for borrowers with moderate credit scores or somewhat stringent underwriting for borrowers with exceptionally low scores. And loans to borrowers with scores around 700 have features that fall between the two offerings. Originations of nonprime mortgages remain suppressed compared with the pre-crisis heyday for subprime loans and Alt A mortgages. However, the market has slowly started to gain traction in recent years thanks to Lone Star Funds. An affiliate of Lone Star is... Read More

Mortgage Delinquency Rates Decline in March to Lowest Level in 11 Years, Black Knight Reports

Total mortgage delinquencies dropped to an 11-year low of 3.62 percent in March, thanks to improving economic metrics, according to Black Knight Financial Services’ first look at March 2017 mortgage data. In particular, overall delinquencies fell 14.1 percent month-over-month, the lowest they have reached since March 2006 and the fourth lowest point since the turn of the century. On a year-over-year basis, total delinquencies declined 11.4 percent. Total non-current inventory, comprised of all loans 30 days or more past due or in active foreclosure, fell below 2.3 million loans, the lowest volume in 11 years, Black Knight analysts found. Observers attributed... Read More

VA Home Loan Guaranty Revisits Fees and Charges, Seeks Comment on Proposed Changes on Closing Costs

The Department of Veterans Affairs is seeking comment on a proposal to ease restrictions on the allowable fees and charges military veterans may pay to obtain a VA home loan – a change that could make VA-backed financing more competitive in home purchases. The VA Loan Guaranty Service wants to hear from stakeholders as to how the agency can protect veterans from incurring excessive closing costs without being overly restrictive. Specifically, the VA is considering ways to revise the list of acceptable fees and charges that are impeding VA borrowers’ ability to compete against bidders using other home-purchase financing options that are not restricted by law or regulation. The VA rule on fees and charges has... Read More

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