Origination

The Supreme Court late this week ruled that federal regulators cannot use RESPA as a price-setting statute to deter lenders and other settlement service providers from charging excessive fees or even “unearned” or bogus fees for which no service is provided.

What if flat fee loan officer/mortgage banker compensation prevails?

Key senators signaled guarded optimism Thursday about the chances of finding a bipartisan compromise on mortgage refinancing legislation, though the bill still faces an uphill fight in the House.

The CFPB surprised many when its proposals announced earlier this month contained a provision to eliminate certain critical differences between brokers and creditors concerning the compensation of loan officers. This may not, however, be as significant for brokers as it may first appear.

The Federal Home Loan Banks stopped purchasing private-label MBS in 2008, but losses on those bad investments have been a major drag on earnings ever since. But that may be changing.

The Senate late this week passed a 60-day extension of the flood insurance program, preventing a shutdown of coverage by the beginning of June.

As the Litigation Compliance Law Center explained during a May 10 webinar, it was offering to pay finders' fees to mortgage brokers for recruiting homeowners who themselves paid a $5,000 up-front "retainer" to affiliated attorneys.

A pair of nonlisted real estate investment trusts with the same dealer/manager have modified their share repurchase programs to increase stockholder liquidity.

Credit quality improved in all major loan categories at commercial banks, savings banks and thrifts, except for single-family loans, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

LendingTree said from January to May, the proportion of borrowers who refinance into a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage has increased by 5% on a year-over-year basis.