Community mortgage lenders increasingly anxious about complying with a growing regulatory burden got a strong show of support recently when Federal Reserve Board Governor Elizabeth Duke called for giving them a separate oversight regime that respects their unique differences when compared to their much larger competitors. “I am convinced that the best course for policymakers would be to abandon efforts for a one-size-fits-all approach to mortgage lending,” Duke said during a community bank symposium ...

The mortgage lending industry won a couple of key legal challenges recently, including an unusual claim brought under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. In Cabrera v. Countrywide Financial, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California recently dismissed, without prejudice, most of the complaint brought by two borrowers who accused the mortgage lender of engaging in fraudulent loan practices in violation of the RICO Act. In July 2007, Manuel Cabrera received...

The CFPB has come out with a report highlighting problems that the agencyfs examiners found during their reviews of nonbanks and banks with more than $10 billion in assets that were conducted from July 2011 through September 2012. The deficiencies they found included improper procedures related to credit line increases for credit card holders under the age of 21, inadequate training on fair credit reporting requirements, and violations of mortgage disclosure requirements...

Wells Fargo has asked a federal district court in Washington, DC, to declare the U.S. government in violation of the terms of the landmark $25 billion mortgage servicing fraud settlement earlier this year that resolved federal and state claims against the bank and four other major servicers for alleged servicing malpractices. In a complaint filed last week, Wells Fargo also asked the D.C. court to order the Department of Justice to halt all legal actions seeking to impose additional liability on Wells Fargo based on a ...

There is substantial risk that the FHA may end up with a negative net worth, which would require congressional appropriations for the mortgage insurance fund and passage of legislation reforming the FHA, said a former top official at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. In remarks this week at the Urban Institute, John Weicher, former assistant secretary for housing and FHA commissioner in 2001-2005, said it is very unlikely in this weak economic recovery to see ...

The volume of loans guaranteed by the Department of Veterans Affairs rose 4.0 percent in the third quarter of 2012, reflecting an upward trend that the agency attributes to strong underwriting. A production increased to $33.3 billion from $32.0 billion in the second quarter and $28.3 billion in the first quarter. The agency reported $93.6 billion in total originations over the nine-month period, with refinancing accounting for 51.8 percent of guaranteed loans. “VA has had the best performing loans in the industry for quite some time, with the ... [1 chart]

Banks that say they were less likely to approve an application for an FHA-insured mortgage cited a higher risk of putback of delinquent mortgages by the FHA as an important reason for the change, according to the Federal Reserve’s latest survey of bank lending practices. Responding to a special question on FHA lending, 14 of the respondents (36.8 percent) ranked putbacks as a “very important” issue, nine banks (23.7 percent) thought it was the “most important” while an equal number said it was “somewhat important.” Nine of the 14 respondents were ...

GSEs, Private MIs Agree to Drop Pre-Approval Requirements. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the private mortgage insurance industry have agreed to eliminate pre-approval requirements for foreclosure alternatives, such as short sales and deeds-in-lieu of foreclosure. The separate agreements with MIs should help distressed homeowners avoid foreclosure by doing away with costly, time-consuming MI reviews that delay foreclosure-prevention transactions, according to the government-sponsored enterprises. WIMC Fully Acquires Reverse Mortgage Solutions. Walter Investment Management Corp. has completed its $120 million acquisition of ...

With most precincts now having reported third-quarter earnings, the outcome is clear: mortgage banking was hugely profitable during the third quarter of 2012. A new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of earnings reports from 25 public companies reveals record mortgage banking income of $9.903 billion during the third quarter. That was a huge 19.2 percent increase over the hefty $8.311 billion these companies earned from their mortgage banking activities during the second quarter ... [Includes one data chart]

Mortgage brokers have made a comeback and a number of new buyers have stepped into the correspondent market – with the common theme of a stronger focus on loan quality. Wholesale lenders have become more selective, said Matthew Young, a senior vice president at Genworth Mortgage Insurance, during a panel session at the Mortgage Bankers Association annual convention in Chicago last week. Buyer attitudes in the correspondent market have been shaped by the risk of mortgage buybacks, which have led to ...