Daily Dose

In an article for the newsletter titled "Hardest Hit Fund Provides Locally Tailored Solutions for Struggling Homeowners," U.S. Department of Treasury Director of the Hardest Hit Fund Program Erin Quinn said that as of March 2015, almost 230,000 homeowners had received a combined $4.7 billion worth of assistance from the HHF Program.

Foreclosure starts totaled 79,000 in June, which was the second-lowest lowest post-crisis monthly total, according to Black Knight. The lowest post-crisis monthly foreclosure start volume of 73,500 occurred in April 2015. Foreclosure starts have totaled less than 100,000 every month since January 2014.

Fairholme Funds made the request in court against the GSEs, claiming that their investor ownership stake was taken unlawfully from them by the government when the conservatorship occurred. Fairholme's efforts are a step toward getting their ownership stake returned to them.

The 79.2 value for the latest MiMi, which was released Wednesday, indicated a weak overall housing market but improved by 0.71 percentage points from April to May and by more than 2 percentage points over the three-month period from the beginning of March to the end of May. The MiMi value improved by more than 4 percentage points year-over-year in May, according to Freddie Mac.

Features of the enhanced dataset include information on credit performance up to, and including, property disposition. The credit information the new dataset provides includes event dates, the costs incurred by the credit event, and recovery proceeds that Fannie Mae receives.

Republicans believe the CFPB, which was created from the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, has had the opposite effect of its intended purpose of protecting consumers from predatory financial activity; rather, they believe the Bureau has made big banks bigger and limits options for consumers.

RoundPoint Mortgage Servicing Corporation's residential mortgage servicer ratings have been adjusted, Fitch Ratings confirmed. Fitch determined that RoundPoint's U.S. residential primary servicer rating for subprime product is 'RPS3+' and the U.S. residential special servicer rating is 'RSS3+'. In addition, the rating outlooks have been revised to 'negative' from 'stable.'

The first-time buyer share in April, May, and June was launched to new highs, supported by improvements in the labor market, riskier mortgage lending, and continuing low mortgage rates. The American Enterprise Institute International Center on Housing Risk recently released a report, finding that first-time buyers account for 58.8 percent of primary owner-occupied home purchase mortgages with a government guarantee, up from 57.2 percent the prior June, according to the Agency First-Time Buyer Mortgage Share Index.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has finally set an official effective date for the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosures rule, after much debate and numerous industry requests to delay the rule. The CFPB issued a final rule moving the effective date to Saturday, October 3, 2015 on Tuesday.

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act's fifth anniversary was acknowledged on Tuesday, July 21, 2015, marking five years since this reform act was enacted. As Dodd-Frank turns five, congress members and industry leaders examine just how effective the reform act has been within the government agencies to which it was applied.