Category: News and Trends

DALLAS–Not only is cooperating with federal law agencies on mortgage fraud issues a good business practice-it’s also the law.

The Mortgage Bankers Association launched a set of resource guidelines to educate both consumers and lenders and their business partners needing to comply with the new Know Before You Owe or TILA/RESPA Integrated Disclosure regulations that go into effect on Oct. 3.

Zillow Inc., Seattle, said home values in the bottom third of the market helped pull more homeowners out of negative equity in the second quarter, with condos more likely than houses to be underwater. 

A new report said 43 percent of U.S. homes, with an estimated of market value of $6.6 trillion, are in counties with “high” or “very high” natural hazard risk.

Fitch Ratings, New York, said widespread changes to U.S. residential mortgage origination practices since the financial crisis have reduced the risk of fraud and misrepresentation.

Commercial mortgage-backed securities’ loss severities bounced back to late-2014 levels in the second quarter, reported Moody’s, New York.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency said loans refinanced through the Home Affordable Refinance Program in the second quarter fell only slightly from the first quarter.

HOPE NOW reported mortgage lenders and servicers completed 411,000 non-foreclosure workout plans for homeowners during the second quarter, reflecting a continued slowdown in workout activity.

The Mortgage Bankers Association, in a letter to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, reiterated its strong objections to the current structure of the Bureau’s Consumer Complaint Database and offered several recommendations to improve the Database. 

Clear Capital, Reno, Nev., said nationwide, quarterly distressed saturation–the percentage of real estate owned and short sales to all sales–increased by 0.7 percent in August, from 15.4 percent to 16.1 percent.