Reforms of recent years appear to be working and the Federal Housing AdministrationÂ's worst financial days appear to be behind it. Time for the agency to return to its mission.
New York's Benjamin Lawsky and other state regulators have given no indication of differentiating between online lenders that operate well and those that dont. Yet the spectrum of alternative lending operations indicates that just such a distinction is needed.
These types of schemes rarely pay off in the end, and they certainly never represent an efficient use of funding. Banks would, therefore, be well-advised to make some immediate price-structure changes.
Following tectonic shifts in the video rental industry, the very Blockbuster stores that were just yesterday a competitive advantage rather quickly became an albatross. That type of chain of events is one that bankers need to be especially on guard for.
Banks shouldnt feel forced to place all their bets on one platform or another. In the shorter term, successful future models of banking will be hybrids.
Lenders choices today are stark: Make Qualified Mortgage loans and risk being sued under the disparate-impact doctrine; make non-QM loans and risk being sued under the ability-to-pay-doctrine; or sell their loans to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Tim Howard, dismissed with former CEO Franklin Raines in late 2004, claims in a new book, "The Mortgage Wars," that the GSE was quite healthy but was the victim of vicious attacks by a banking lobbyist group and regulators.
