Mortgage Daily, June 22, 2017Over at Caliber Home Loans Inc., staffing has expanded by more than 1,500 employees during the past 12 months.
Category: Top National News
Fed’s Stress Tests Bolster Case for Easing Bank Rules
Wall Street Journal, June 22, 2017–Ryan Tracy, Telis Demos (subscription)The largest U.S. banks survived a hypothetical “stress test” and could continue lending even during a deep recession, the Federal Reserve said, a strong report card that could bolster the industry’s case for cutting back regulation.
For Consumers, Less Debt but Lots of Bills
Wall Street Journal, June 23, 2017–Justin Lahart (subscription)Americans’ finances are in the best shape they have been in years. As a group, U.S. households’ debt-to-income and debt-to-asset ratios in the first quarter fell to their lowest levels since the early 2000s.
Bankers Have Less to Fear From ‘Stress Tests’
Wall Street Journal, June 25, 2017–Ryan Tracy (subscription)The Federal Reserve on Wednesday will release the final results of this year’s tests, which probe firms’ ability to withstand a severe financial shock. Officials made the tests easier for some banks this year, and for the next time around they are preparing to further change the exams in fundamental ways.
Sears Closing Another 20 Stores Amid Ongoing Sales Slide
Fortune, June 23, 2017–Phil WahbaYou can add another 20 Sears and Kmart stores to retail’s graveyard.
A Second, Even Bigger Foreclosure Reaches NYC Billionaires’ Row
Bloomberg, June 23, 2017–Oshrat CarmielAnother luxury condo at Manhattan’s One57 is scheduled for a foreclosure auction–the second time in a month that a property seizure is being sought at the Billionaires’ Row tower following a mortgage default. And it might be the biggest in New York City residential history.
Senators Said to Consider Breaking Fannie-Freddie Into Pieces
Bloomberg, June 27, 2017–Joe LightThe proposal by Tennessee Republican Bob Corker and Virginia Democrat Mark Warner would attempt to foster competition in the secondary mortgage market, where loans are packaged into bonds and sold off to investors. Warner said last week at a Mortgage Bankers Association conference that he and Corker had found consensus on a number of issues.
Banking Lobby Pushes for CFPB Commission
Scotsman Guide, June 26, 2017–Victor WhitmanMost of the nation’s largest trade groups, including the Mortgage Bankers Associaton, signed onto a letter recently sent to leaders of the U.S. Senate and House appropriations committees to make the case that Congress should restructure the CFPB as a five-panel bipartisan commission.
The Downside of Scaling Back the CFPB Complaint Database
National Mortgage News, June 26, 2017–Kevin Wack (subscription)Banks and other lenders say they can be unfairly maligned by consumers whose grievances that have not been vetted for accuracy. Industry groups also chafe at how the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau cites numbers from the database without some of the relevant context.
Senior Mortgage Executives’ Non-GSE Outlook Strong
Mortgage Daily, June 26, 2017Senior mortgage banking executives expect demand for non-agency programs will intensify. At the same time, the group expects requirements on such programs to ease.