Law and regulation

Jan. 10 has brought nine tough new servicing rules from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

The Dutch State Treasury Agency has invited Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to bid on the assets.

The industry coalition needs 60 senators to stop unaffordable rate hikes.

While compliance has been properly viewed by most as merely a cost for lenders, it may very well become an investment critical to engaging in the most profitable form of lending.

Aggregate 30- and 15-year conventional prepayment speeds in December were up from the previous month but by less than expected, and Ginnie Mae speeds also were slower than anticipated.

New tool helps lenders meet regulatory expectations and build a unique settlement agent list updated with real time risk status.

Some banks will be leery about originating loans to the self-employed because they can't document their ability to repay, but others insist that such loans, even outside of QM, are too lucrative to ignore.

There ought to be some flexibility to allow negotiated loan fees. But in these highly regulated days, nothing is easy.

A steep drop in refinances and declining purchase activity are taking a toll on Federal Housing Administration endorsements.

FCI Lender Services' Gordon Albrecht has long focused on areas mainstream players eschew, and right now he is helping servicers manage liabilities and costs intensified by Jan. 10's regulatory deadline.

Loan officers won’t be looking for leads as much as sophisticated technological support and the tools needed to be successful from their lenders.

The unit is being created to help servicers comply with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s new mandates.

The top aides have worked for Wells Fargo and the Center for Responsible Lending.

Now that Jan. 10 has arrived with its many new regulations, some loan officers are thinking about whether they should stay in the mortgage business. There are other issues, however, that they should be thinking about as well.

The qualified mortgage rule, reduced refi activity and ongoing commoditization are forcing smaller institutions to take a hard look at exiting the mortgage origination business.

The agency is reportedly auditing a number small lenders and brokers for compliance.

Hummingbirds are inexorably tied to the flowers they feed upon. They co-evolve. This is what is about to occur as federal and state laws co-evolve to create new compliance challenges for lenders.

Fear of missing opportunities while the market is near its bottom will drive purchases as the Federal Reserve slowly ends the quantitative easing that puts downward pressure on rates.

New QM disclosures could delay closings when the purchase market heats up this spring.