Investment bankers that ply their trade in mortgage finance expect 2013 could turn out to be a strong year for mergers and acquisitions as current players, flush with cash, look to expand their franchises. But according to interviews conducted by Inside Mortgage Finance, “outside” money – including private-equity capital and hedge funds – might finally take the plunge this year as well. “PE firms are definitely looking,” said Chuck Klein, managing partner of Mortgage Banking Solutions. But he also cautions that hedge funds are hardly pushovers as buyers. “Hedge funds do...

Inside Mortgage Finance Publications, Inc. announced this week that it has just settled a major copyright infringement dispute with a large national financial institution for more than one quarter of a million dollars. Without admitting any infringement, liability or wrongdoing, the financial institution agreed to pay IMFP to settle charges that it had violated federal copyright laws by making unauthorized copies of Inside Mortgage Finance. IMFP alleged that the financial institution had engaged in ongoing infringement, distributing infringing copies of dozens of registered issues to a group of non-subscribing employees. “We never like to pursue...

Paul Muolo, a veteran mortgage industry reporter and editor for more than 25 years and the co-author of a recent book on the mortgage crisis, has been hired as the new managing editor at Inside Mortgage Finance Publications, it was announced this week. At IMFP, Muolo already has left his mark by re-launching IMFnews as a free daily news service with comprehensive coverage of breaking mortgage-related news. As managing editor, he will contribute stories to the weekly Inside Mortgage Finance and Inside MBS &ABS newsletters as well as work with the four other reporters/editors at the company. “We are very pleased...

The CFPB has issued its long-awaited and much-discussed ability-to-repay final rule, and the initial review of the 800-plus page document is that the bureau generally succeeded in navigating a moderate course, giving lender groups and consumer groups some but not all of what each wanted. In short, the rule creates a general definition of a qualified mortgage that addresses product standards, features minimum underwriting and documentation requirements, and limits “points and fees” to 3 percent. In terms of product...

Illustrating the relative success the CFPB had in striking a middle-of-the-road tone in its ability-to-repay final rule, nearly every interested public and private constituency seemed to find some things to like and other things to be concerned about in the end product. The Mortgage Bankers Association, like many lending and real estate groups, said it was pleased the bureau provided a legal safe harbor to lenders when they originate loans that meet the QM standards in the rule. “This approach should allow lenders to...

In addition to the ability-to-repay rule itself, the CFPB has issued a proposal to seek comment on whether to adjust the final rule for certain community-based lenders, housing stabilization programs, certain refinancing programs of Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac and federal agencies, and small portfolio creditors. The bureau wants to know whether the rule should be modified to address potential adverse consequences on certain narrowly-defined categories of lending programs. Specifically, the proposal includes amendments...

The CFPB has issued a final rule that increases Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act coverage for mortgages with high interest rates, fees or prepayment penalties. The rule expands HOEPA to cover home]purchase loans and home equity lines of credit; revises the lawfs rate and fee thresholds for coverage; and adds a new coverage test based on a transactionfs prepayment penalties. The final rule implements the Dodd-Frank Actfs revisions to HOEPAfs coverage tests by providing that a transaction is a high-cost mortgage if any...

The CFPB issued a final rule it inherited from the Federal Reserve that generally extends the current required duration of an escrow account on certain higher-priced mortgage loans from a minimum of one year to a minimum of five years. To preserve access to credit, the rule creates an exemption from the escrow requirement for small creditors that operate predominately in rural or underserved areas.Specifically, to be eligible for the exemption, a creditor must:make more than half of its first-lien mortgages in rural or...

It looks like all of the clamoring that mortgage lenders have engaged in over the last year about the volume and expanse of new regulations has earned them a bit of a reprieve on at least one front. The CFPB now expects to issue its final rule on the combined and integrated Truth in Lending Act and Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act consumer mortgage disclosures in September, according to the bureau’s semiannual regulatory agenda released last week and in commentary included in its final rule on escrow accounts for...

Mortgage banking entities and credit unions are trying to prepare as best they can for an anticipated onslaught of new regulations from the CFPB that will likely dramatically reshape the landscape of mortgage lending for years and perhaps generations to come. Part of their coping strategy is to enlist the aid of bureau officials themselves to help measure out all the new rules into more digestible portions. The Mortgage Bankers Association, for one, recently wrote the CFPB, suggesting the agency use a staged...