News

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) said this week that suspicious activity reports (SARs) indicating mortgage loan fraud increased seven percent in the first half of this year. Banks and thrifts filed 35,135 mortgage-related SARs from January to June 2010. The federal agency found that reports referencing the term short sale appeared 827 times, and SARs referencing broker price opinion appeared 41 times during the first quarter of this year alone.

Senior technology leadership is now in place for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) implementation team, according to an announcement from the Treasury Department. Tim Duncan will lead technology operations, and David Forrest will lead the online engagement team. Currently housed at Treasury, the CFPB will have statutory oversight of mortgage lending and the power to set new rules for home loans and other consumer-facing credit products.

According to the fourth quarter issue of Southwest Economy, published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, banks in the Eleventh Federal Reserve District are performing well, although signs of stress are still apparent. The report states that about 30 percent banks in the district, which includes Texas, northern Louisiana and southern New Mexico, find that even after restructuring troubled loans to give borrowers easier terms, many of the loans become delinquent again.

Federal regulators on Wednesday announced changes to the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) parameters to support communities affected by high foreclosure levels. The final rule encourages depository institutions to finance development projects in areas that qualify for HUD's Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP). Institutions will receive CRA credit for any NSP-eligible activities, such as loans extended to grant recipients to buy foreclosed homes or a donation of REO properties to a nonprofit housing organization.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie signed A. 2861 into law last week, banning Wall Street Home Resale Fees, or private transfer fees. New Jersey becomes the 19th state to restrict the use of these fees. On the federal level, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has issued guidance that restricts Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from investing in mortgages with these fees. A bill currently being considered in the House would ban the fees across the country.

Data released by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Wednesday shows that consumer demand for mortgages waned last week as interest rates soared to their highest level in nearly seven months. MBA's index of new applications for home purchases plummeted 5.0 percent, breaking a three-week streak of increases, while the refinance index slipped 0.7 percent. MBA says Treasury rates increased last week following news that lower tax rates could be extended for another two years. Mortgage rates also followed higher.

Recent Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data released by the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) revealed that 11 percent of lenders doubled their volume during the 2009 calendar year. Of those lenders, 40 percent use HMDA and compliance software from QuestSoft. One San Diego-based lender says QuestSoft's technology has cut the time needed to geocode and prepare its quarterly regulatory reports by 90 percent.

Analytics firm CoreLogic released Tuesday a real-time fraud assessment and income estimation tool designed to help users comply with recent federal mandates that require lenders to validate borrowers' ability to pay. The program aims to make it possible to confidently lend to people who have little or no credit history.

Independent mortgage banks and their subsidiaries made an average profit of $1,423 on each loan they originated in the third quarter, thanks to a surge in refinance activity and growing demand for mortgage-backed securities, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported Tuesday. The third quarter's per-loan profit represents a jump of more than 55 percent from the $917 independent mortgage lenders made on each loan in the second quarter of this year.

New data from ForeclosureRadar shows that though there has been no major drop in delinquencies in the West Coast states of Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington, foreclosure starts have fallen to 2008 levels. The company's report deduces that the drop in foreclosures is due to robo-signing issues and the moratoriums that followed the controversy. Notice of default filings in November were down 9.3 percent in California, while notice of sale filings dropped a stunning 31.7 percent in Washington.