National Mortgage News, Jan. 2, 2018–Penny Crosman (subscription)Real estate deals on a blockchain are becoming real. The startup Propy recently sold an apartment in the Ukraine through its blockchain, and in the last week of December it began letting Californians buy and sell properties on its blockchain using bitcoin.
Category: Top National News
FHA Faces Uphill Struggle to Win Lenders Back
National Mortgage News, Dec. 26, 2017–Brian Collins (subscription)”There are lots of fixes that need to be made at HUD,” said David Stevens, president and chief executive at the Mortgage Bankers Association “A lot of lenders have left the FHA program due to enforcement risk and the huge cost of servicing defaulted [FHA] mortgages.”
Homeowners Rush to Prepay 2018 Property-Tax Bills
Wall Street Journal, Dec. 26, 2017–David Harrison, Jennifer Levitz (subscription)Homeowners across the nation rushed last week to prepay their property taxes for 2018 before the Republican tax law kicks in Jan. 1 and effectively raises the levy on higher-end homes.
Fannie and Freddie Regain Capital Reserves; Withhold Billions from Treasury
HousingWire, Dec. 29, 2017–Ben LaneThanks to the new agreement between the Federal Housing Finance Agency and the Treasury, each of the GSEs withheld billions from the Treasury to ensure that each has enough capital on hand to “cover other fluctuations in income in the normal course of each Enterprise’s business.”
Reg Relief, GSEs to Dominate Banking Policy on Capitol Hill in ’18
National Mortgage News, Dec. 29, 2017–Ian McKendry (subscription)Congress is likely to pass significant changes to the Dodd-Frank Act early next year and then attempt to overhaul roughly a third of the U.S. economy by restructuring the housing finance system.
Judge Says PricewaterhouseCoopers Was Negligent In Colonial Bank Failure
Wall Street Journal, Dec. 31, 2017–Michael Rapoport (subscription)PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP was negligent in connection with one of the biggest bank failures of the financial crisis, a federal judge has ruled, opening up the Big Four accounting firm to the potential of hundreds of millions of dollars in damages.
Hensarling on Short List of CFPB Director Prospects
Dallas Morning News, Dec. 29, 2017–Todd J. GillmanOf the eight Texas congressmen retiring in 2018, Dallas Rep. Jeb Hensarling is among the ones going out on top. He’s reportedly on a shortlist to run the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — an opportunity to defang an agency he’s spent years trying to kill off.
Consumer Bureau to Revise Mortgage, Prepaid Card Rules from Cordray Era
The Hill, Dec. 21, 2017–Sylvan LaneThe Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will no longer assess penalties against mortgage lenders and banks for errors collected in data next year that is subject to the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act. The bureau also won’t ask for lenders to resubmit such data if errors aren’t “material” to the information provided. The CFPB also said it would begin the process of making a rule to revise parts of the CFPB’s 2015 rule regarding HMDA.
Treasury Will Allow Fannie, Freddie to Retain Small Capital Buffer
Wall Street Journal, Dec. 21, 2017–Nick Timiraos, Andrew Ackerman (subscription)Mortgage-finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will retain some of their quarterly earnings as part of an agreement between the Trump administration and their regulator to allow the companies to build a small buffer against future operating losses.
Trump Watchdog’s Reversal on Bank Oversight Ripped by Democrats
Bloomberg, Dec. 21, 2017–Jesse HamiltonA decision by the Office of the Compotroller of the Currency to keep government examiners inside banks is drawing criticism from Senate Democrats, who said it will make watchdogs more likely to sympathize with finance executives they are responsible for policing.