Underwriting

Are credit bureaus, housing groups in cahoots to kill FICO scores?

09/18/17

Efforts to persuade regulators to allow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to use alternative credit scores would stifle competition between the credit bureaus and FICO and do little to expand access to credit, according to industry analyst Chris Whalen.

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Why pricing terrorism risk remains a challenge for CRE insurers

09/11/17

The Terrorism Risk Insurance Act was created after 9/11 to serve as a crucial federal backstop for commercial real estate insurers, but an analysis of alternatives to fund the program reveals the continued challenges of measuring and predicting terror risk.

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Wells Fargo accused of scamming borrowers on rate lock fees

08/30/17

Wells Fargo forced borrowers to pay millions of dollars in fees to extend interest rate locks that expired due to the bank's delays in processing mortgage applications, a lawsuit claims.

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How credit unions cracked the code on HELOCs

08/14/17

Despite rising home prices and a market where many older homeowners are loath to sell, home equity line of credit lending remains muted in all but one corner of the industry: credit unions.

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Libor going away creates a compliance trap for ARM lenders

08/10/17

Picking a new benchmark for adjustable-rate mortgages is the easy part. Industrywide implementation is where things get tricky.

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PHH to pay $75M False Claims Act settlement with DOJ

08/08/17

PHH Corp. will pay the Justice Department $75 million to settle a False Claims Act investigation of its underwriting practices on government-insured mortgages and loans sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

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New Wells scandal harms effort to nix CFPB arbitration rule

07/28/17

Republican efforts to repeal the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's arbitration rule were dealt a significant blow Friday by another Wells Fargo scandal.

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CFPB finalizes TRID update without a fix for compliance 'black hole'

07/07/17

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's final rule to formalize guidance on a number of TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosures compliance points omits an originally proposed fix for the so-called black hole that's created when a mortgage closing is delayed.

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DOJ's False Claims Act focus shifts to reverse mortgage servicers

07/03/17

The Trump administration's Justice Department was expected to be less aggressive in its pursuit of False Claims Act cases against the mortgage industry. Instead, its focus has shifted to Federal Housing Administration-insured reverse mortgages.

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New credit score models won't work if lenders ignore them

06/28/17

Borrowers can benefit from more inclusive data and tightening of certain credit file standards, but so far lenders continue to rely on older models.

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