The FHA has issued new, more permissive loss-mitigation guidelines for Home Equity Conversion Mortgages, including an optional extension for mortgagees when submitting due-and-payable requests. Additionally, the guidelines allow mortgagees to cure a HECM borrower’s taxes and/or insurance defaults as long as the FHA incurs no cost and the mortgagee agrees to refrain from seeking loan assignment for at least three years. The guidelines further remove a previous restriction prohibiting the use of the permissive loss-mitigation options announced in Mortgagee Letter 2015-11 for borrowers in foreclosure. Accordingly, for HECM loans that were in the process of foreclosure prior to the issuance of ML-2015-11, mortgagees may assess those borrowers for a repayment plan in accordance with the mortgagee letter. The repayment plan must have the ...

Cutting back on its FHA business helped reduce JPMorgan Chase’s foreclosure inventory but made it harder for the bank to meet its community reinvestment goals, according to the bank’s top executive. In a letter to shareholders, Jamie Dimon, president/CEO of JPMorgan Chase, said he would rather see the bank no longer service defaulted loans. “If we had our druthers, we would never service a defaulted mortgage again,” he wrote. “We do not want to be in the business of foreclosure because it is exceedingly painful for our customers, and it is difficult, costly and painful to us and our reputation.” Chase has cut back on FHA lending and has reinstated overlays in response to stiff penalties it paid to resolve False Claims Act allegations brought by the federal government. In 2014, Chase agreed to a $614 million settlement with the Department of Justice over allegations of ...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Housing Service (RHS) last week published a final rule revising current regulations regarding lender indemnification, refinancing and qualified mortgage requirements, only to withdraw it later without explanation. The final rule was published in the March 29, 2016, issue of the Federal Register and was withdrawn abruptly on March 31. The RHS’ one-paragraph correction notice said the rule had been “inadvertently published” and, thus, was being recalled. The agency neither elaborated nor returned calls seeking comment. The final rule would expand the RHS’ lender indemnification authority for loss claims in the case of fraud, misrepresentation or noncompliance with applicable loan origination requirements. By taking such action, the RHS aims to improve its ability to manage the risk of its single-family housing guaranteed loan program. In addition, the final rule would ...

In a follow-up development to earlier reports of the demise of W.J. Bradley Mortgage as a result of the CFPB’s integrated disclosure rule, affiliated newsletter IMFnews reported last week that at least $20 million worth of jumbo loans originally funded by the lender have hit the TRID “scratch-and-dent” market, citing an investor who plays in the space. The loans were offered by Texas Capital Bank, which several sources have identified as a key warehouse lender to WJB, a now defunct privately held non-depository. Early reports on the company’s voluntary closure suggest that TRID errors on non-agency mortgages played a key role in the firm’s demise. Sources contend that a few months back WJB tried to sell at least $30 million ...

The Association of Mortgage Investors wrote to the CFPB last week for guidance on the integrated disclosure rule known as TRID, warning that the marketplace woes stemming from the new rule may extend to the conforming mortgage loan market. “The recent evidence is that the rule, while extremely well-intentioned, has resulted in a climate of legal uncertainty and is chilling private investment in the U.S. mortgage market,” said Chris Katopis, executive director of the AMI. Further, “We urge the bureau to open a new public comment period to address the concerns of mortgage investors,” he added. “We seek formal written guidance clarifying the liability for a violation of each individual TRID requirement, as well as the scope and applicability of ...

A single mortgage would have to meet nearly 150 requirements to achieve compliance with the TRID integrated disclosure rule, according to a framework proposed last week by members of the Structured Finance Industry Group. Third-party due diligence firms will test loans for most of the rule’s requirements, according to a draft of the TRID compliance “review scope” obtained by Inside Nonconforming Markets, an affiliated publication. Since the integrated disclosure rule took effect in October, due diligence firms have found widespread violations on non-agency mortgages, limiting sales of loans with violations due to liability concerns. The SFIG proposal suggests that many of the TRID compliance violations could be cured after being uncovered by a due diligence firm, but violations of about ...

In response to the recent enactment of federal legislation, the CFPB recently issued an interim final rule that broadens the availability of certain “qualified mortgage” special provisions under the ability-to-repay rule for small lenders that operate in rural or underserved areas. The new rule, which kicked in March 31, 2016, implements the Helping Expand Lending Practices in Rural Communities (HELP) Act, legislation that allows more small creditors operating in rural or underserved areas to offer balloon-payment QM loans and balloon-payment high-cost mortgages, and makes them eligible for the escrow exemption. Prior to the HELP Act, a small lender was only eligible for these provisions if it operated predominantly in rural or underserved areas. The bureau’s prior rules had interpreted that ...

Although much of the oxygen in the room is being taken up these days with concerns about the CFPB’s integrated disclosure rule, industry participants need to mind their Ps and Qs when it comes to the bureau’s loan originator compensation rule. During a recent webinar sponsored by Inside Mortgage Finance, an affiliated publication, top legal experts discussed how the industry can navigate a safe passage, compliance-wise. “We know that they’re going to really be looking at loan originator compensation plans this year,” said Kristie Kully, a partner with the Mayer Brown law firm in Washington, DC. “We know that they expect to find some problems in the LO comp area, and often when they expect to find them, they will ...

Mortgage banking industry representatives told the CFPB it should not be in a rush to make any changes to its resubmission guidelines for data that will be submitted under the bureau’s new Home Mortgage Disclosure Act rule. Because of continuing problems in implementing the integrated disclosure rule, “companies have not yet had available sufficient resources to begin HMDA implementation in earnest,” the Mortgage Bankers Association told the bureau in a recent comment letter. “Also, considering the unprecedented expansion of data elements required under the new HMDA rule, it can be anticipated that when implementation begins, there will be a far better understanding of myriad issues including appropriate resubmission guidelines.” Consequently, MBA said that while some changes may now be warranted, ...

For years, banks have had a losing record in FHA cases involving False Claims Act allegations. Hence, a federal appeals court’s decision to uphold dismissal of a $2.3 billion lawsuit against a major bank is a rarity. In U.S., ex rel. Advocates for Basic Legal Equality (ABLE) v. U.S. Bank, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of an FCA lawsuit against U.S. Bank because the conduct alleged by the qui tam relator had been previously disclosed publicly in a consent order with federal banking regulators. The court held that ABLE’s claims were barred because the conduct that allegedly violated the FCA had already been disclosed when the plaintiff filed suit in 2013. The Department of Justice declined to intervene. The relator suit alleged that U.S. Bank had a practice of initiating foreclosure on FHA-insured mortgages without complying with the ...