Compliance & Regulation

The general perception in the mortgage industry is that the CFPB and their new regulations are like an albatross around the necks of mortgage companies, especially the smaller independents.

Under the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau plan, lenders would need to respond to virtually every public complaint — even those by consumers, disgruntled employees, and competitors that abuse this forum.

BB&T Corp. said the Department of Housing and Urban Development plans to audit the lender over sales of government-backed loans.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau worries that mini-correspondent lenders are circumventing its qualified mortgage rule. But a large number of mortgage brokers converted to mini-correspondents because the rule made it harder to operate as a broker.

These investors complain they get little say or direct recompense in government settlements with big banks over misrepresentations of mortgage securities like the Department of Justice's $7 billion deal with Citigroup.

The Senate overwhelmingly passed a bill Thursday to extend the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act, as divisions over a competing measure continue to stymie House leaders.

Property valuation fraud risk in the first quarter was up from a year ago, while mortgage fraud risk remained unchanged, according to an Interthinx report.

Nearly five years after Bank of America dumped the Mortgage Servicing Package for technology it obtained in its acquisition of Countrywide, a forlorn Black Knight Financial Services is trying to win back the country's third-largest servicer.

Nonbank mortgage lenders pose greater risks to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac because they have limited government oversight and generally weaker finances than banks, according to a government watchdog report.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's guidance on the growing mortgage mini-correspondent business has scared some originators to the point that they are considering converting to branches of larger retail lenders.