Loan Think

Although lenders received some good news via Freddie Mac's February U.S. Economy and Housing Market Outlook, raising the enterprise's 2015 originations forecast from $1.2 trillion to $1.3 trillion, the Aug. 1 TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure rule implementation deadline still looms large.

Since one out of every five households belongs to an HOA, lenders and servicers must understand the necessary rules and regulations and exercise extreme caution when processing these delinquent properties.

Mortgage sales people need to make an honest assessment of why a loan application failed to close.

Lenders must carefully ensure that all potential motivations for advice, recommendations, and referrals are provided to borrowers, as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has positioned itself to utilize Unfair Deceptive or Abusive Acts Practices claims as an enforcement tool.

Although the new rules address many of the issues presented by non-borrowing spouses, one of the rules' principal shortcomings is that they do not sufficiently outline the rebalancing of principal that is often required to substitute these new borrowers.

Originators must be able to provide clients with what they want, how they want it and when they want it.

While many servicers are under pressure to sell of mortgage servicing rights, there's still a fair amount of interest in buying MSRs from other quarters of the market.

W.J. Bradley's method for retention relies on cutting edge data and analytics; leverages the strength of their retail branch network; and borrows common-sense advice from the father of self-help.

To take advantage of changing customer demographics and preferences, lenders must capitalize on digital technology. At the same time, digital technology should work in conjunction with, not as a replacement for, the loan officer.

Leading economic indicators are favorable for a continued improvement in both the economy as a whole and the housing industry, and many midtier lenders will find their companies operating at a disadvantage when compared to larger firms that are approved to sell their production directly to the industry's largest investors.