News

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released a proposal to amend certain regulations in the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA). The intent is to provide additional flexibility for mortgage lenders in the collection of consumer ethnicity and race information. The proposed ...

More lenders in February saw defects in mortgage applications compared to January, according to a new report by First American Financial Corp. The firm’s chief economist cited rising interest rates as the likely culprit. As rates rise, more borrowers are seeking ARMs, which are inherently riskier and, thus, ripe for more misrepresentation.

Analyses of new Census data show populations are shifting out of the big cities and the Rust Belt and into the Sun Belt suburbs. According to the data, the fastest population growth in the last 30 years has been in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Texas. Detroit saw the largest decrease in population with a drop of nearly 20 percent.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency Thursday announced that Release 2 for its Single Security Initiative and Common Securitization Platform (CSP) for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will come in mid-2019. Release 2, the announcement stated, will allow Fannie Mae and ...

Defects in a chain of title can have devastating effects on the mortgage servicer’s ability to recover an asset associated with a nonperforming loan. The webinar discussed how to navigate regulation and correct mistakes, and what to look out for in judicial foreclosure states.

The chain of title is the guy-wire that holds the home finance industry upright. Without some method to determine who owns a given parcel of real estate, it cannot be used as collateral for a loan. In cases where these loans go into default, a clear title is essential for a smooth foreclosure and REO process. Unfortunately, problems arise that cloud the title, increasing loss severity for investors.

According to a recently released report by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), foreclosures from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac since the dawn of conservatorship reached 3.8 million as of Q4 2016. Overall however, serious delinquencies are down, along with short sales and REOs. FHFA also found that that the types of loan modifications offered are being influenced by the increase in home prices over the last couple of years.

Jeb Hensarling first introduced the Financial CHOICE act last summer, in response to the 2010 Dodd-Frank act. The president’s team has already indicated support of the Financial CHOICE Act, which, among other things, would modify aspects of Dodd-Frank and help to reform the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

The qualified mortgage rule, a standard set up to make sure borrowers can repay their mortgages, as well as other mortgage servicing and home lending regulations are set to come up for review. The CFPB wants to “try to see what the real-world effects on the market” these regulations have.

Conventional wisdom suggests that rising Fed Funds rates are bad news for the still-recovering US Housing Market. And it’s easy to see a scenario unfold that supports this theory: lenders react to the Fed action by raising interest rates on ...