Speculators, in the form of short-sellers, are zeroing in on the mortgage industry, including some of the fastest-growing servicers of the past two years: Nationstar Mortgage, Ocwen Financial, and Walter Investment Management Corp. But one mortgage stock being shorted more than any of these is PHH Corp., the parent company of PHH Mortgage, the nations seventh largest originator. According to figures compiled by Standard & Poors, as of early February, speculators had sold short 17.2 million shares of PHH common. As a ratio of shares outstanding in PHH, this comes...[Includes one data chart]
Future changes to Home Mortgage Disclosure Act regulations may shed more light on how lenders adapt to the new ability-to-repay rule, as well as assessing the role of credit history and payment burden in the lending process and mortgage pricing. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau late last week took the opening steps in overhauling HMDA reporting requirements under provisions included in the Dodd-Frank Act. Among the changes on the table are disclosing the loan term, total points and fees, the length of any teaser or introductory rate, and the applicant or borrowers age and credit score. Also, the CFPB is...
Less than six weeks into the tenure of the new Federal Housing Finance Agency head, the policy direction of Fannie Maes and Freddie Macs regulator remains a mystery, much to the consternation of some industry observers. Since Mel Watt was sworn into a five-year term as FHFA director on Jan. 6, the former North Carolina Democrat congressman has made no public appearances or policy statements, except for canned comments attributed to him in routine FHFA announcements. Everybody wants...
The idea of expanding the Home Affordable Refinance Program may never die, but comments this week show the Obama administration has little interest in reviving it. During a question-and-answer event this week sponsored by Politico, Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan made it clear that HUD will not push for an expansion of HARP. While more could be done for non-agency borrowers, he said that would require legislation. I think we should continue to look at everything we are doing in marketing it but I think this is something we ought to continue to look at on the legislative front, said Donovan. An industry lobbyist said...
The whistleblower who gained fame and a lot of money from suing major banks for robo-signing and other improper mortgage servicing practices has filed an amended lawsuit accusing 22 companies of defrauding the Department of Housing and Urban Development of billions of dollars in false FHA claims. Lynn Szymoniak, whose 2011 interview on 60 Minutes blew the lid off improper servicing practices at some major banks, filed a qui tam, or whistleblower, lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of South Carolina last week alleging violations of the federal False Claims Act and state false claims statutes. Defendants include CitiMortgage, Wells Fargo Bank, Bank of America, Deutsche Bank, HSBC USA, JPMorgan Chase and U.S. Bank, as well as servicers, trustees, custodians and title companies. The lawsuit seeks...
Mortgage industry attorneys expect to see more Consumer Financial Protection Bureau enforcement actions in the future stemming from compliance deficiencies that were dug up during the supervisory examination process. One of the things that we saw towards the last quarter of 2013 was a couple of enforcement actions which grew directly out of supervisory exams, Allyson Baker, a partner in the litigation group at the Venable law firm, said during a webinar this week sponsored by Inside Mortgage Finance. Baker, formerly an enforcement attorney with the CFPB, was referencing...
The FHFA will show the MI standards to state insurance regulators first, but only if they agree to sign a non-disclosure agreement with the FHFA or the government-sponsored enterprises regarding the content they see.
Since Mel Watt was sworn into a five-year term as Federal Housing Finance Agency director on January 6, the former North Carolina Congressman has made no public appearances or policy statements except for canned comments attributed to him in routine FHFA press releases.
One loan officer based in Southern California said hes seeing bonus offers made to colleagues, but cautioned: Its true, but only if you can prove good volume today not eight months ago.
Fed chairman Janet Yellen told legislators: I think it is really very important for Congress to put in place a new system to address GSE reform. I think we still have a system that has systemic risk."