Compliance & Regulation

What mortgage companies pay LOs, and how compensation plans are determined and structured, can give regulatory agencies more information about a company's priorities than lenders might think.

A proposal issued two weeks ago by the FHFA calls on the two government-sponsored enterprises to identify opportunities to increase their purchases of small multifamily properties in rural areas, sparking some concern among lenders.

After lenders and their technology providers spent much of 2015 implementing the TILA-RESPA integrated disclosures, forthcoming compliance audits and a government-sponsored enterprise plan to start collecting data from the new forms will tell if those efforts truly paid off.

Mid America Mortgage Inc. has created a scratch-and-dent purchase program to buy loans with TILA-RESPA integrated disclosure rule defects.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency appears to be on course to decide next year whether Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should update their credit scoring models.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is giving private mortgage insurers some hope this holiday season that they might get a chance to offer deeper mortgage insurance on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac single-family loans.

While marketing services agreements dominated the conversation around compliance in the latter half of 2015, loan officer compensation will be under more scrutiny during 2016.

Some mortgage investors are refusing to buy home loans that are at risk of violations of new consumer-disclosure rules. The problem appears to be worst among nonagency jumbo loans purchased by private investors.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has lowered the asset-size threshold to qualify for escrow exemptions for higher-priced mortgage loans.

Rising rates could slow the runoff from refinancings and add stickier purchase loans to servicers' portfolios. That's the good news.