Compliance & Regulation

A top Republican on the House Financial Services Committee said Tuesday she is disappointed that the GOP has not been able to fix Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac since taking control of the House in January.

The housing finance sector will have to wait until next year for the final rule on what constitutes a 'qualified residential mortgage,' the unofficial head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau told a regulatory forum in Washington.

Raj Date, the de facto head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, said Tuesday that misaligned incentives led to some of the major problems in mortgage servicing and still persist.

The chief author of the Dodd-Frank Financial Reform Act took exception to what he called "the revolt against risk retention," saying requiring originators to hold 5% of the loan amount on their books is "one of the central things we did in the bill."

Eight years ago a Bear Stearns research report on the mortgage insurance industry warned of a grave threat: In exchange for steering home buyers to the insurers, mortgage lenders were demanding unjustifiably lucrative reinsurance deals.

A senior Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee Monday criticized GOP tactics that he said appear aimed simply at slowing down the business of regulators.

Affordable housing advocates and mortgage industry groups are often on opposite sides of the debate over the future of lending, but recent regulations have created a common adversary for the two groups: the QRM.

Any borrower who believes they were harmed by a foreclosure initiated by 14 major servicing banks soon can seek out an independent review of their case, according to Comptroller of the Currency John Walsh.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development wants All American Home Mortgage Corp. to indemnify the Federal Housing Administration against future losses on five loans that were endorsed for more than $1 million that violated industry guidelines and reimburse the agency $181,515 for associated fees paid on one loan that had underwriting deficiencies.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will hike their guarantee fees some time next year to better reflect "that which would be anticipated in a private competitive market," FHFA acting director Ed DeMarco said Monday morning.