Category: News and Trends

In an important win for Mortgage Bankers Association members, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac last month announced changes to their compensatory fee structures that better take into account a mortgage servicers’ operations and no longer impose fees at the outset of the process.

CoreLogic, Irvine, Calif., said mortgage delinquencies fell to their lowest rates since 2000, with foreclosure inventories at their lowest rate since 2005.

Commercial mortgage-backed securities finished 2018 on a positive note as December’s delinquency rate dropped to another post-crisis low, but lower delinquencies could conceal a darker picture in the broader market, analysts said.

The Internal Revenue Service, responding to pressure from the Mortgage Bankers Association and other industry trade groups, said it would resume processing tax transcript information requests it originally said it had to suspend during the partial government shutdown.

TransUnion, Chicago, said low unemployment rates and continued positive growth in both GDP and real disposable income are among the key drivers that will propel the U.S. consumer credit market in 2019.

The Mortgage Bankers Association and the Independent Community Bankers of America, in a joint letter to federal agencies, asked for a meeting to discuss the status of proposed rulemakings issued more than a year ago aimed at reducing regulatory compliance burdens, particularly on community banking organizations.

The commercial mortgage-backed securities delinquency rate resumed its year-long downward trajectory in November after a very brief uptick in October, reported Trepp, New York.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency yesterday asked public comment on a proposed rule that would establish standards and criteria for the validation and approval of third-party credit score models used by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Wolters Kluwer, Minneapolis, released its annual Regulatory and Risk Management Indicator survey for the U.S., noting two-thirds of bank and credit union respondents continue to cite risk and compliance challenges as high, although there is “notable easing” compared to 2017 risk and regulatory anxiety levels.

The Trump Administration this week signaled it intended to nominate Mark Calabria, a longtime Washington policy operative who currently serves as Vice President Mike Pence’s chief economist, as Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.