Category: Top National News

Bloomberg, July 30, 2019–Prashant Gopal, Reade Pickert, Noah BuhayarLow mortgage rates and thriving employment should be the recipe for a strong housing market. Instead, they’re deepening America’s affordability crisis.

National Mortgage News, July 29, 2019–Hannah Lang (subscription)A consensus is building among some mortgage industry observers that the election makes it unlikely the administration will try to release Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from conservatorship anytime soon. Yet others argue, “If not now, when?”

HousingWire, July 29, 2019–Jessica GuerinThe agency’s proposed test includes the evaluation of the performance of an issuer’s balance sheet, income and cashflow under adverse conditions over the course of eight quarters.

American Banker, July 29, 2019–Kate Berry (subscription)Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., on Monday called for the ouster of Eric Blankenstein, now a senior counsel at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. They were responding to a CFPB inspector general report that he “may have abused his authority” during the fallout last year over revelations he used a racial slur in an incendiary blog 14 years ago.

Reuters, July 16, 2019–Pete Schroeder”You’re trying to reform what is the financing behind one-sixth of the economy,” said Pete Mills, senior vice president at the Mortgage Bankers Association. “You’ve got to do it in a way that doesn’t disrupt the marketplace, and that’s the challenge.”

American Banker, July 28, 2019–Kate Berry (free article)”The goal here is to get a version of the patch [so that] QM covers a significant percentage of the borrowers that are currently served, but applies to the market entirely,” said Pete Mills, the senior vice president of residential policy at the Mortgage Bankers Association.

HousingWire, July 26, 2019–Kelsey RamirezFederal Housing Finance Agency Director Mark Calabria told HousingWire this week that he supports the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s move to kill the Qualified Mortgage patch.

American Banker, July 25, 2019–Neil Haggerty (subscription)House lawmakers are considering legislation to expand the data included in credit reports, despite warnings that certain types of alternative credit data items could hurt consumers.

HousingWire, July 25, 2019–Ben LaneThe Federal Housing Administration’s system for quality control on the loans it backs is currently offline after weeks of issues led to the inadvertent deletion of an unknown amount of data and documents.

National Mortgage Professional, July 23, 2019–Phil HallNew York Attorney General Letitia James has filed a brief in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York seeking to prevent the bankruptcy filing by Ditech Holding Corp.