Category: Top National News

Associated Press, Jan. 11, 2018The bill’s sponsors–Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Thom Tillis, R-N.C.–said Thursday the goal is to protect veterans, particularly those who purchase homes through a U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs home loan program.

Huffington Post, Jan. 11, 2018–Jack GuttentagOne intriguing approach has been suggested by Wayne Passmore and Alexander H. von Haften, economists at the Federal Reserve Board. Their central idea for encouraging more rapid equity growth is to trade off the borrower’s right to refinance when interest rates fall, which imposes a heavy cost on lenders, for larger principal payments.

National Mortgage News, Jan. 11, 2018–Brian Collins (subscription)Adolfo Marzol, a top official at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, is optimistic that technological improvements and other changes can help draw Federal Housing Administration lenders back to the fold.

Mortgage Orb, Jan. 10,2018–Mark CollinsMortgage servicers have set up a very complicated system that attempts to get taxes paid on time and allows them time to perform research on exceptions. This fragile system of timing tax payments has now collided with the new tax laws introduced just before the end of 2017, which threw a wrinkle into this already delicate framework.

National Mortgage News, Jan. 10, 2018–John Heltman (subscription)The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s recent freeze on collecting any personally identifiable information from companies it supervises is slowing investigations and could ultimately cripple the agency’s enforcement function–and that may be the point, according to former agency and law enforcement officials.

HousingWire, Jan. 10, 2018–Ben Lane Sens. Mark Warner, D-Va., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., introduced a bill that would increase oversight of credit reporting agencies and allow the government to impose financial penalties on the agencies for failing to secure consumer data.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Jan. 10, 2018–Cary SpivakAlishia Evans, the Milwaukee woman who was conned by a bogus landlord and then bounced by police from the home she thought she would be renting, is receiving a financial settlement from Freddie Mac, the giant mortgage agency that owned the house.

Mortgage Daily, Jan. 10, 2018Despite a tumble in first-mortgage production at California’s credit unions, outstandings grew. Home-equity production and outstandings, however, jumped.

National Mortgage News, Jan. 9, 2018–Ian McKendry (subscription)The Senate Banking Committee is expected to soon release a bipartisan bill that would significantly reshape the housing finance market, but key issues remain unresolved.

Mortgage Daily, Jan. 9, 2018Equifax reported although volume of mortgages closed has fallen, the share that are considered subprime has inched higher. Home-equity originations have strengthened.