PHH, CFPB Have a Court Date. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has scheduled to hear oral arguments in the case of PHH Corp. v. CFPB on April 12 at 9:30 am ET. Analysts at Compass Point Research & Trading said in a client note that “the oral argument date is consistent with our expectations and supports our 4Q16 estimate for a decision.” The crux of the dispute is the bureau’s assertion that PHH violated the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act by illegally referring borrowers to mortgage insurance companies in exchange for kickbacks. Back in January 2014, the CFPB initiated an administrative proceeding against PHH. Administrative Law Judge Cameron Elliot subsequently held that PHH’s referrals of ...

Credit Plus Offers Reps-and-Warrants Coverage to Help Lenders Cope with CFPB, OCC Expectations. Credit Plus, a Salisbury, MD-based third-party verifications specialist for mortgage professionals, has come out with representations-and warranties-insurance coverage for all of its services, responding to the CFPB’s and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s expectation that lenders are now ultimately responsible for practicing effective third-party risk management. The insurance coverage allows customers to better defend their companies against the negative financial consequences of a possible loan default and the resulting repurchase requests, the company said. “While we are confident in the quality of our verification services, we are also a strong proponent of best practices,” said Greg Holmes, national director of sales and marketing at ...

Earnings season has begun, and among the biggest financial institutions and mortgage lenders that have reported thus far, there’s been little evidence of damage to the bottom line as a result of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s integrated disclosure rule known as TRID. At top-ranked Wells Fargo, total loan production for the fourth quarter was $47 billion, versus $55 billion in the third quarter, and $44 billion in the fourth quarter of 2014, something Chairman and CEO John Stumpf attributed to seasonality as well as TRID. During an earnings-related conference call with investors last week, Stumpf was asked...

FHA lenders are uneasy over whether issues raised by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s new integrated disclosure rules could affect FHA lending. Although the issues cited by lenders are not FHA issues per se, these lenders are concerned that such uncertainties may cause problems for their FHA business, according to mortgage industry consultant Brian Chappelle, a principal at Potomac Partners. For example if a lender cures a mistake and the cure results in a reimbursement of, say, $100 to the borrower at closing, would that be considered a violation of the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s minimum 3.5 percent cash-investment requirement for FHA loans. “I don’t think it is a violation, but lenders are worried about how HUD might interpret it,” said Chappelle. “It is well after closing and it is obviously not a gift given to the borrower. It is ...

Quicken Loan attempt to have a governmen false-claim lawsuit against the lender moved from Washington, DC, to a federal court in Detroit will not necessarily secure a win, according to a mortgage industry attorney. “I think it was more the device Quicken needed in order to become the plaintiff instead of the defendant,” said one attorney who preferred to remain anonymous because his firm handles other legal matters for Quicken Loans. He said it does not matter whether the case is tried in Washington or Detroit but what matters is its actual substance. At the same time, there is no reason why those defenses could not be raised in a DC court, the attorney added. Last month, a federal judge in Detroit dismissed Quicken’s preemptive lawsuit against the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Justice Department for failure to state a claim. Ultimately, the court ...

The Department of Veterans Affairs has issued a clarification for non-borrower spouses on VA title documents, which apparently has created some confusion when lenders try to foreclose on VA-backed properties. VA is aware that lenders occasionally make loans to veterans who wish to use their home loan benefit to purchase a home and include their spouse in ownership, but the spouse does not wish to be on the mortgage loan. Including the spouse on the deed but not on the mortgage note can create a problem if the VA loan goes into foreclosure because the non-borrowing spouse’s ownership in the property could defeat the foreclosure action, the VA explained. “Delaying or preventing a foreclosure increases foreclosure claim cost to the government and the veteran,” the agency said. According to the VA guidance, when a loan is originated that includes a ...

The Department of Veterans Affairs has posted a chart on its web site showing the revised maximum allowable foreclosure timeframes for each state in 2016. State foreclosure timeframes are used in calculating the maximum interest payable on a foreclosure of a VA loan. They are subject to annual reviews and revised as needed. The chart reflects maximum allowable foreclosure periods that include the 210 calendar days for unpaid interest as well as foreclosure periods without the 210 days. Specifically, the chart shows timeframes the VA has determined to be “reasonable and customary” for all states, following an annual review of amounts allowed by other government-related home loan programs, such as FHA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The chart also lists the maximum amounts that will be paid on a claim processed in the ...

Radian Guaranty became the first among seven private mortgage insurers to declare compliance with the regulatory capital standards under the Private Mortgage Insurer Eligibility Requirements (PMIERs). Radian met its PMIERs goals after receiving $325 million in cash and marketable securities from its parent Radian Group in exchange for a surplus note. In addition, the parent firm contributed $50 million to an exclusive affiliated reinsurer of Radian Guaranty. Radian Group expects the capital cushion to increase based in part on expected future financial performance at its MI subsidiary. Monies from other sources, including a profit commission of about $8 million based on performance to date, and $8.5 million in prepaid supplemental ceding commission also contributed to the MI’s capital. Hence, Radian Guaranty is not expected to require any additional capital contributions in order to ...

CFPB Director Richard Cordray issued a letter to the mortgage industry over the holidays related to the TRID integrated disclosure rule, clarifying that the new rule includes a provision to “cure” certain mistakes, even after the fact. “The Know Before You Owe mortgage disclosure rule provides for the issuance of a corrected closing disclosure, even after closing,” Cordray said in a letter to Mortgage Bankers Association President and CEO David Stevens. “This can be used, for example, to correct non-numerical clerical errors or as a component of curing any violations of the monetary tolerance limits, if they exist. “As a general matter, consistent with existing Truth in Lending Act principles, liability for statutory and class action damages would be assessed ...

Some private investors are skittish about purchasing loans in the new TRID environment because of the potentially huge, and largely unspecified, liability that purchasers face on the secondary market under the bureau’s new integrated disclosure rule, according to some top experts. “What we’re seeing now, unfortunately, is that private investors, securitizers and such, are being gun-shy,” said Richard Andreano, mortgage banking practice leader in the Washington, DC, office of the Ballard Spahr law firm, during a recent webinar sponsored by Inside Mortgage Finance, an affiliated publication. “Because what we have is the bureau made clear that there was some liability associated with the TRID rule, not only pre-existing Truth in Lending Act liability, but perhaps now some liability for Real ...