Category: Top National News

National Mortgage News, May 19, 2017–John Heltman (subscription)In the report on House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling’s Financial Choice Act, the CBO estimate that “most of the financial institutions that chose to maintain a 10% leverage ratio would be those with assets below $10 billion,” primarily because those institutions already hold leverage ratios in excess of 10%.

HousingWire, May 19, 2017–Brena SwansonRep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., reintroduced the Taking Account of Bureaucrats’ Spending Act on Friday in attempts to make the budget of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau subject to congressional appropriations, instead of the Federal Reserve.

HousingWire, May 19, 2017–Ben LaneThe new report, released this week by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System Office of the Inspector General for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (first reported by Law360), showed the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Office of Enforcement did not put proper protocols in place to secure confidential investigative information and confidential supervisory information.

Wall Street Journal, May 19, 2017–Harriet Torry (subscription)Most Americans are doing better financially than a few years ago, although the degree of improvement rises with a person’s education level, according to a new Federal Reserve survey.

National Mortgage News, May 22, 2017–Kate Berry (subscription)A federal appeals court is set to hear oral arguments Wednesday in a highly anticipated case that is the first significant challenge to the constitutionality of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Mortgage Daily, May 22, 2017The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s actions against Ocwen have been too severe, according to a draft working paper by Christopher Whalen of Whalen Global Advisors LLC.

Mortgage Daily, May 22, 2017Bids are being taken for mortgage servicing rights on more than $2 billion in loans with a Golden State concentration that are backed or owned by the government-sponsored enterprises.

HousingWire, May 18, 2017–Ben LaneFederal Housing Finance Agency Director Mel Watt said that the heavy lifting on housing finance reform needs to come from Congress.

Mortgage Daily, May 18, 2017Wells Fargo & Co.’s home lending unit will no longer offer renovation mortgage products due to the complexity and risk of the loans.

Wall Street Journal, May 11, 2017–Andrew Ackerman (subscription)The Senate Banking Committee has begun behind-the-scenes work on the issue of how, exactly, to revamp the companies. The senators want to develop a framework to decrease the government’s outsize role backstopping the nation’s $10 trillion mortgage market.