Law and regulation

The qualified mortgage rule’s implementation was supposed to give mortgage-backed securities market participants more certainty about collateral value, but remaining questions about government policy keep PLMBS a work in progress.

This supports other bright lines many lenders have been interesting in adopting in terms of loan size and loan programs.

This rule allows the CFPB examiners an easy way to trace the funds without having to dig through papers.

A lawsuit has been filed questioning the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s decision to block municipalities from using eminent domain to modify a distressed borrower’s mortgage and prevent foreclosures.

There is no place on the new loan estimate and closing disclosure for disclosing lender-paid compensation, says Don Frommeyer, president of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers. Thus the form might not be appropriate for mortgage brokers to use. Several readers commented on Frommeyer’s statement.

Changes may come after lenders have implemented and adjusted to the ability-to-repay rules.

It will use CoreLogic data to empower research conducted by the Urban Institute’s Housing Finance Policy Center.

He could be running the Federal Housing Finance Agency as early as the next day.

Cities and federal agencies have new requirements for maintaining foreclosed assets, so property preservation and servicing executives now spend lots of time poring over local codes.

If the switch is not done right, originators are setting themselves up for trouble.

Plans to wind down the agencies may halt now that they are profitable and Congress is working on reforms.

Banks subject to the 2012 settlement over botched foreclosures failed in many cases to provide timely or adequate notifications to borrowers in various stages of the modification or foreclosure process.

While year-to-year volume is flat, thousands of mortgages have been made on Native homelands in recent years, compared to dozens twenty years ago.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development is a rare government agency that funds private enforcement of its own regulations. It does so via its Fair Housing Initiatives Program, which offers grants to nonprofits to carry out the work.

The National Fair Housing Alliance's claims that banks have failed to maintain homes in minority neighborhoods are based on shaky factual and legal ground. However, alliances between the nonprofit and its allies in government may leave bankers with little choice but to settle.

Lenders need to boost their consumer education spending and watch out for “advertorial” content, according to the feds.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s history, structure and effectiveness during the financial crisis have helped guide the discussion of housing finance reform, inspiring Senate lawmakers to push an FDIC-like system for the mortgage industry.

The National Fair Housing Alliance has accused big banks of discriminating against minorities in the upkeep of foreclosed properties and is seeking millions in settlements—mostly for itself. Behind its demands are faulty data and grants overseen by a federal official with close ties to the group.

The Senate Banking Committee is making progress toward drafting legislation to overhaul the mortgage finance market, but one of the biggest unresolved issues is how much skin in the game private market participants must have in return for a government guarantee.