Servicing Newslinks Archive

“The lack of housing stock, particularly affordable inventory, is a growing issue and will limit a full housing recovery in the short to medium term.”
–Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic, Irvine, Calif.

“FHFA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should be commended for their work over the last four years on the representation and warrant framework. The independent dispute resolution process is an important final piece to this effort. In its totality, the representation and warranty framework will provide much needed certainty and transparency for lenders of all sizes and help broaden access to credit for borrowers.”
 –MBA President and CEO David Stevens, CMB.

“More commercial and multifamily mortgages are maturing in 2016 and 2017 than have the last few years, but early refinancings and pay-downs are chipping away at those totals. The bottom line is that the ‘wall of maturities’ that has been the focus of concern the last many years is receding.”
–MBA Vice President of Commercial Real Estate Research Jamie Woodwell.

“Consumer credit default rates are low and stable, and consumer sentiment measures are upbeat…There was no response among consumers to the Fed’s recent rate increase, no rush to apply for mortgages.”
–David Blitzer, managing director & chairman of the Index Committee with S&P Dow Jones Indices. 

“When Congress established the FHLBank membership framework, it didn’t limit membership to only certain insurance companies. FHFA’s decision to disqualify captive insurance companies removes a vital component of the FHLBank membership which provides liquidity for the real estate finance market.”   
–MBA President and CEO David Stevens, CMB, on a Federal Housing Finance Agency  final rule on Federal Home Loan Bank membership that retains a controversial Mortgage Bankers Association-opposed restriction on captive insurers. 

“We strongly encourage the FHFA to review the goals of this proposed survey, identify genuinely unique data points not otherwise captured by existing surveys, utilize focus groups and, ultimately, reissue a more complete survey for comment.”   –From an MBA/trade group letter expressing concerns over a proposed Federal Housing Financial Agency survey of mortgage borrowers.

“Our examiners will be squarely focused on whether companies have made good faith efforts to come into compliance with the rule. All of the regulators have indicated that their examinations for compliance in the first few months of implementing the new rule will be corrective and diagnostic, rather than punitive.” –Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray, in response to an MBA letter over concerns regarding implementation of its RESPA/TILA Integrated Disclosure rule.

“When everybody is too busy regulating, nobody is focused on the overall outcome and unintended consequences on consumers and the marketplace. Multiple, duplicative or confusing rules do not always make for a better, easier or safer lending environment. Getting the rules right with clarity creates the best environment and will lead to effective and functional consumer protection.”
–MBA President and CEO David Stevens, CMB.

“The proposed rule would have significant and unintended consequences on the financing of multifamily apartments, the vast majority of which are affordable to families earning below median income. The proposed rule appears to scope in the multifamily finance market in an abbreviated manner.”
–From an MBA/trade group letter asking the Securities and Exchange Commission for more time to review a proposed rule that would require collateral be posted on forward-settling agency securities.

“The scorecard clearly identifies front-end credit risk transfer for single-family loans as a priority and identifies the need to solicit feedback from industry. This has been one of our top priority issues and one on which we are eager to continue to engage with FHFA and the GSEs. We are further encouraged by FHFA’s direction to maintain similar levels of multifamily financing and to continue to exempt loans in affordable and underserved market segments from the financing caps.”
–MBA President and CEO David Stevens, CMB.