Category: Top National News

Scotsman Guide, Oct. 19, 2018–Victor WhitmanMick Mulvaney, the acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, delivered what seemed to be a clear message this week at the Mortgage Bankers Association’s annual convention in the nation’s capital. He stressed that the bureau’s focus has changed, and that the prior CFPB leadership’s era of regulation by enforcement is over.

National Mortgage News, Oct. 19, 2018–Brad Finkelstein (subscription)Rising mortgage interest rates not only will continue to constrain banks’ once-robust revenue from this business, they will also affect existing borrower credit quality, a report from Moody’s said.

The Hill, Oct. 19, 2018–Timothy CamaSusan Israel Tufts, a top political official at HUD, resigned Friday after HUD Secretary Ben Carson said she was slated to be the Interior Department’s top watchdog, apparently by mistake.

MarketWatch, Oct. 21, 2018–Laura Kusisto, Sharon NunnA combination of rising mortgage rates and high home prices, a dearth of inventory and a new tax law that reduces incentives for home ownership have weighed on the housing sector this year.

Wall Street Journal, Oct. 21, 2018–Yuka Hayahsi (subscription)Brian Johnson spent years as a congressional aide organizing Republican attacks on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Now, he is its No. 2 official, playing a central role in the Trump administration’s reshaping of the consumer-finance regulator.

National Mortgage News, Oct. 19, 2018–John Reosti (subscription)Bank OZK in Little Rock, Ark., did more than stub its toe when it reported lower profit tied to two big chargeoffs. The $22 billion-asset company may have lost the confidence of investors for the foreseeable future, even though management used an earnings call to passionately defend its heavy reliance on commercial real estate lending, where the chargeoffs took place.

HousingWire, Oct. 19, 2018–Ben LaneThe Department of Justice announced Friday that it reached a $13.2 million settlement with Universal American Mortgage Company to resolve allegations that the lender violated the False Claims Act by falsely certifying that it complied with FHA lending standards. Universal American Mortgage Company is the mortgage subsidiary of Lennar and does business as Eagle Home Mortgage.

Mortgage Daily, Oct. 22, 2018 A sharp decline in quarterly retail originations at SunTrust Banks Inc. drove overall home lending lower as mortgage earnings sank. But the size of the financial institution’s mortgage servicing portfolio has increased over the past year.

Mortgage Daily, Oct. 19, 2018FHA reported monthly residential government-insured mortgage production nudged up, though commercial real estate endorsements plunged. The book of business continued to grow.

Bloomberg, Oct. 19, 2018–Natalie Wong, Justina VasquezNew York developer Silverstein Properties Inc. built a $4 billion pipeline of real estate deals just weeks after starting. None of the money was for buildings it will own.