U.S. Representative Randy Neugebauer (R-Texas) introduced a bill this week intended to replace the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) with a five-member commission. He announced his plan to support legislation in his testimony at House Financial Services Committee (HFSC) hearing held on Tuesday, March 3.
Read More »Lack of Credit Availability, Low Inventory Challenging Housing Market
Two challenges facing the U.S. housing market is currently facing are a dearth of credit creation and a lack of available inventory, according to a report released Wednesday by the Kroll Bond Ratings Agency (KBRA) that is scheduled to be presented Thursday by KBRA Senior Managing Director and Head of Research Christopher Whalen at the 2nd Annual Real Estate Symposium in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Read More »Market Conditions Mixed in Fed’s Latest Beige Book
Weather conditions slowed home construction in New York, Philadelphia, and Cleveland and caused Boston to have low levels of inventory. The report notes that lack of desirable lots and low inventory levels continue to slow the market.
Read More »Ratings Agency Publishes Report on Freddie Mac Loan Loss Data
Fitch Ratings has published a special report providing insights into Freddie Mac's loan loss data comparing observed loss performance for Agency loans to both non-Agency loans and the fixed loss severity schedules the Enterprise uses in risk-sharing transactions, according to announcement from Fitch Ratings.
Read More »Servicers Completed Mortgage Solutions for 1.88 Million Homeowners in 2014, Report Shows
Approximately 1.88 million homeowners nationwide received a mortgage solution in the form of a loan modification, short sale, deed-in-lieu of foreclosure, or other workout plan during 2014, according to data released Wednesday by HOPE NOW. The 2014 numbers brought the total number of solutions the industry has offered to homeowners since 2007, when HOPE NOW began tracking the data, up to 23.2 million, representing a combination of both long and short term tools.
Read More »Report: Citigroup Preparing to Pay $20 Million to Overlooked Victims of Foreclosure Violations
Citigroup is preparing to pay approximately $20 million to thousands of homeowners who were eligible to receive compensation as part of the Independent Foreclosure Settlement reached between the government and 10 mortgage servicers two years ago over loan servicing and foreclosure procedure violations, according to media reports.
Read More »AACER: Bankruptcy Filings Continue Year-Over-Year Decline, But Rise 10 Percent Monthly
While bankruptcy filings nationwide in February continued their trend of year-over-year decline since the foreclosure crisis peaked in 2010, the number of filings rose slightly from January to February, according to AACER bankruptcy data reported by Epiq Systems. While February featured one fewer filing day than January did (19 compared to 20), bankruptcy filings nationwide totaled 65,002 for February, up from 59, 050 in January (an increase of 10 percent).
Read More »Nationwide Title Clearing Hires New VP of Marketing
Post-closing services provider Nationwide Title Clearing, Inc. (NTC) has announced the hiring of Gina Morales, APR, as VP of Marketing.
Read More »RES.NET Reports Increased Demand for Custom Tasking Feature
Real estate solutions provider RES.NET has seen a rise in mortgage servicers' demand for custom tasking capabilities, which the company attributes to new regulatory changes that were added in the third quarter. More than 80 new changes were made, forcing banks to hire new full-time staff and spend more hours meeting the new demands, according to the Banking Compliance Index.
Read More »CFPB’s Perceived Overreach, Lack of Accountability Discussed in Congressional Hearing
Two major subjects discussed during Tuesday's hearing entitled "The Semi-Annual Report of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau" before the House Committee on Financial Services were the Republicans' perceived lack of accountability on the part of the Bureau as well as whether or not the Bureau's efforts have been overreaching.
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