Over the past two weeks, mortgage lenders have seen their application volumes and origination pipelines get whipsawed by rising interest rates. But its not the run-up in rates, per se, that set off alarm bells in the industry. Its how fast rates climbed. As Inside Mortgage Finance went to press this week, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury was at roughly 2.60 percent. On a historical basis, thats an attractive rate and as many lenders have pointed out: consumers can still obtain a 30-year fixed-rate conventional loan at 4 percent, depending on the points paid. But a month ago, the 10-year Treasury was...
Implementation of state-specific servicing standards like Californias would impose "divergent and conflicting standards" that will add costs to future home buyers and create confusion, said one MBA official.
Republican and Democrat lawmakers in the Senate formally unveiled their ambitious plan to replace Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with a new federal entity providing backstop guaranties for securities backed by high-quality conventional mortgages. Although they made a variety of changes to a discussion draft version of the legislation that has been widely circulated in recent weeks, the proposal still faces a huge hurdle in the House despite winning generally favorable reactions from industry groups. As it was introduced this week, S. 1217, the Housing Finance Reform and Taxpayer Protection Act of 2013, would create...
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, responding to input from the mortgage lending community, this week issued a number of proposed clarifications and revisions to its controversial new rule on loan originators, as well as other mortgage rules set to take effect in January 2014. Separately, CFPB Director Richard Cordray made clear that the agency will not delay implementation of the new rules, which include determining a borrowers ability to repay and massive changes in mortgage servicing requirements. In a speech late last week, he promised to work with the industry to ensure as smooth an implementation process as possible. We would make...
For the past two years, Bank of America has been the poster child of legacy servicing sales, but it may soon have some company. According to industry advisors who specialize in the mortgage servicing rights market, JPMorgan Chase and a few other large banks with seasoned portfolios are developing deal teams to explore their options. Chases name has surfaced from time to time as a select seller of legacy product. But it also has been a selective buyer of servicing, including the purchase last fall of $70 billion in rights from MetLife, which was closing out its interest in the mortgage business. A spokeswoman for Chase declined...
In a legal development that could be pivotal for the tenure of Richard Cordray as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as well as the scope of the agencys authority the Supreme Court of the United States announced this week that it was taking on Noel Canning v. National Labor Relations Board. In Canning, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled earlier this year that President Obamas three recess appointments to the NLRB were unconstitutional. If the SCOTUS upholds that determination, it could eventually spell the end for Cordrays tenure at the helm of the bureau, numerous attorneys concur, given that he was named to the CFPB as a recess appointment in the same announcement in which the President revealed his NLRB appointments. Theres more...
Servicers appear to have won a battle with consumer advocates regarding state adoption of servicing requirements that exceed those established by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The Council of State Governments this weekend decided against recommending Californias Homeowners Bill of Rights as model legislation for states, according to a spokesman for the CSG. The Mortgage Bankers Association had warned that piecemeal adoption of Californias bill would increase costs and create confusion. Californias Homeowners Bill of Rights included...