BLOG VIEW: The U.S. Department of the Treasury, through the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), issued a final rule in February 2012 requiring nonbank residential mortgage lenders and originators to establish anti-money laundering (AML) programs and to report suspicious activities under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA). The BSA is designed to alert law enforcement of criminal and terrorist activity. The BSA requires U.S. financial institutions (including non-bank residential mortgage lenders/brokers) to assist U.S. government agencies in detecting and preventing money laundering.

Despite the issuance of this final rule more than six years ago, many nonbank mortgage lenders/brokers are not complying with the requirements of the BSA and, as a result, regulators are beginning to take note in their examinations.

A compliant AML program for a residential mortgage lender/broker includes: 1) designating a competent individual to serve as the company’s BSA/AML compliance officer; 2) conducting an AML Risk Assessment; 3) drafting and implementing written internal policies and procedures; 4) establishing an ongoing training program; and 5) conducting an independent audit of the company’s AML program every 12 to 18 months. An AML program must also include the maintenance of a “red flags” program and a customer identification program, the filing of suspicious activity reports (SARs), when required, and compliance with Section 314 of the U.S. Patriot Act and Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) regulations.

Most mortgage companies have designated a BSA/AML compliance officer and have an AML policy and procedure in place; however, many mortgage companies do not comply with one or more of the other AML requirements.

For example, more often than not, mortgage companies are not conducting an AML risk assessment. This needs to be completed at least every 12 to 18 months, and lenders should be modifying identified activities based on the company’s operations and growth. The risk assessment should consider the current and future state of items such as the company’s size, products, customer base and geographic area of operation. The Conference for State Bank Supervisors (CSBS) has issued a tool to assist mortgage companies in completing such risk assessments. This tool can be found at https://www.csbs.org/bsa-aml-self-assessment-tool.

Another BSA requirement that is frequently lacking or unfulfilled is ongoing training. Mortgage companies must train their personnel at least annually in all applicable aspects of AML regulations. A best practice for lenders is to provide AML training to all new employees within 30 days of hire.

Additionally, the BSA/AML compliance officer must receive periodic training that is relevant and appropriate given changes to regulatory requirements, as well as the activities and overall AML risk profile of the company. All AML training needs to be adequately tailored to a company’s operations. For example, mortgage companies should specifically train their personnel on the types of suspicious activity and “red flags” they are likely to come across, such as mortgage fraud related items.

Finally, mortgage companies must document their training programs by maintaining training and testing materials, the dates of training sessions and attendance records. Lenders that are not conducting this annual training should immediately do so, and there are a host of vendors that can assist in providing AML training and tracking tools at a fairly reasonable cost.

Another aspect lenders seem to be overlooking is independent testing/audits. Although the specific nature of the testing will be somewhat dependent on the company’s size and risk profile, the AML audit can be performed by an independent third party or an employee of the company, provided the employee has no role whatsoever in the AML functions being tested (including reporting to the BSA/AML officer), and possesses enough knowledge of BSA regulations to be qualified to perform the audit.

By far, the area of most noncompliance by mortgage companies pertaining to AML requirements is with regard to the filing of SARs. FinCEN highlights the importance of SAR filing by mortgage companies indicating that mortgage companies are the, “primary providers of mortgage finance … and are in a unique position to assess and identify money laundering risks and fraud.”

The BSA lists several situations where a mortgage company must file a SAR. A SAR requires basic company information, information about the individuals involved and information about the suspicious activity or transaction. FinCEN requires all filings to be submitted electronically through its website.

Many mortgage companies take the view that transactions are only reportable only if they involve currency. Not only is this view incorrect, it’s also quite risky. While many of the requirements for the filing of a SAR involve currency, there is also a requirement for a transaction to be reported if a mortgage company knows, suspects or has reason to suspect that a transaction involves the use of the loan or company to facilitate criminal activity.

Given this, mortgage companies must file a SAR every time they suspect fraud – whether it is income, employment, occupancy or some other type of fraud. If a mortgage company has not filed any SARs, or only a few, in the past six years, it could be a sign that the company does not have a compliant AML program or a weak one for that matter.

As such, it is not uncommon for an examiner to ask to review any adverse action notices for the past several years or to speak with the underwriting department to discuss whether they have denied any transactions for suspected or known fraud. In most instances, such fraudulent or suspicious situations are reported to an employee’s manager and not the BSA/AML compliance officer.

It is not surprising that these companies are often the ones that either do not conduct AML training or do not customize their AML training to specifically discuss mortgage fraud, rather than just situations involving large money laundering schemes and currency. Furthermore, it is a best practice for the BSA/AML compliance officer to review all QC reports in an effort to identify any activity that could require the filing of a SAR.

There are many mortgage companies with strong AML programs in place. These companies expend the resources, time and money to ensure they comply with all the BSA requirements. Given the substantial civil and criminal penalties set forth in the statute and the significant increase in state examination questions related to AML items, it is recommended that lenders take a long, hard look at their AML programs and ensure all requirements are properly satisfied.

Michael Barone is executive director of compliance for MQMR, where he oversees all compliance and regulatory guidance with clients and prospective clients.
Source: https://mortgageorb.com/despite-regulatory-clarity-aml-errors-persist-in-mortgage-lending

Fannie Mae wants to get mortgages in people’s hand in a speedier manner, and as a result, it is testing so-called hybrid home appraisals in which the appraiser doesn’t actually visit the house.

Citing unnamed sources, National Mortgage News reported that Fannie Mae is requesting appraisers use local market data and details about the specific property to come up with the home value. These hybrid appraisals are quicker for the lenders and cost less for the mortgage borrowers than getting an appraisal in which the appraiser visits the home. National Mortgage News noted that sources said Fannie Mae is currently involved in a pilot, although it declined to comment on the efforts.

[Find out how much home you can afford with Investopedia’s  mortgage calculator.]

The move on the part of Fannie Mae comes at a time when mortgage rates are rising, home property values are increasing and price wars are breaking out in certain parts of the country. With many first-time buyers looking to purchase a home during the spring selling season, they could be priced out of the market because of the current conditions. Offering a lower-cost option for appraisals could help these borrowers get into a new home.

Still, if the appraiser isn’t entering the home, it could raise questions about the quality of the data and the accuracy of the appraisal. After all, the quality of the appraisal will be based on the expertise of the home inspector.

Testing hybrid appraisal isn’t the only way Fannie Mae has been helping would-be borrowers get into a new home. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have been doing things such as backing loans by lenders that pay down a buyer’s student loans and making it easier for self-employed borrowers to get a mortgage. In the summer, Fannie Mae raised the debt-to-income limit on mortgages to 50%, which is higher than the 45% industry norm. Freddie Mac is also beginning to follow suit, noted The Wall Street Journal.

As a result of the higher debt-to-income levels, the Urban Institute said that there were 100,000 new mortgages that otherwise would not have been issued. The percentage of borrowers with high debt-to-income ratios and low credit scores that have Fannie Mae-backed loans went to 25% in the first two months of 2018 from 19% a year ago.

 

Source: https://www.investopedia.com/news/fannie-mae-testing-hybrid-home-appraisals/

Freddie Mac has quietly started extending credit to nonbanks that issue mortgages, a move it says will help the companies maintain access to a crucial stockpile of cash if their home loans go sour.

But critics say the financing could create an unfair market advantage that allows preferred lenders to muscle out competitors.

Fannie and Freddie Died But Were Reborn, Profitably: QuickTake

The new Freddie credit lines, which haven’t been publicly announced, are meant to support nonbanks’ mortgage-servicing operations. That’s the lucrative business of managing a home loan after it’s been issued.

Although banks dominated mortgage lending immediately after the 2008 financial crisis, now they are facing stiff competition from companies such as Quicken Loans, Freedom Mortgage, LoanDepot and Caliber Home Loans. Nonbanks issued nearly half of mortgages sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie in 2016, compared with 8 percent a decade ago.

Cash Crunch

The industry typically functions like this: A lender makes a mortgage and then Fannie or Freddie packages it with other loans into securities that are sold to third-party investors. The lender continues to make a steady stream of income for collecting monthly payments from borrowers and sending the payments on to the third-party investors.

Things can turn problematic for a mortgage servicer if a borrower defaults. The servicer is still obligated to keep sending monthly payments to the mortgage investors even though it’s no longer collecting any money from the borrower. Eventually, Fannie or Freddie reimburses the servicer. But in the meantime, there can be a serious cash crunch.

To make sure they have sufficient liquidity, nonbanks often borrow money against their mortgage-servicing rights. Freddie is now getting into the business of providing nonbanks that kind of credit. Banks, in contrast, don’t often need such financing because they have deposits and other business lines to fall back on.

Freddie Chief Executive Officer Don Layton said in an interview last week that the credit will fill in gaps not served by the private market and that Freddie’s risk exposure won’t increase, since the company already is vulnerable when one of its servicers goes under. He said Freddie has closed one transaction so far and that it partnered with other lenders on the deal.

“We’re not trying to undercut the private market,” Layton said. “If it works, you’ve got another lender in the marketplace.”

Industry Angst

The move is causing angst among some industry trade groups that say Freddie will target its financing at the biggest servicers. The groups also predict Freddie will charge comparatively low interest rates, putting small servicers at a disadvantage.

Officials with the Mortgage Bankers Association, the largest mortgage trade group, say they and their members haven’t been told who’s eligible for the credit lines.

“There’s been no transparency about this,” said MBA chief economist Michael Fratantoni. “Our major concerns are around the unleveling of the playing field” between large and small lenders, he said.

Ed Wallace, executive director for the Community Mortgage Lenders of America, said he’s worried a program not available to small companies could “play into the national lenders’ hands.”

Regulators Worried

Some regulators have said they’re becoming increasingly concerned that nonbanks might fare badly in a downturn.

Last month, authors from the Federal Reserve and the University of California at Berkeley’s Haas School of Business wrote that the nonbank sector “in aggregate appears to have minimal resources to bring to bear in a stress scenario.”

Nancy Wallace, a Berkeley professor and one of the paper’s authors, said nonbanks are undercapitalized and rely too much on borrowed money. Being able to access credit lines from Freddie or Fannie wouldn’t solve that problem, she said.

“Fannie and Freddie should not be in the business of that kind of lending,” Wallace said.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency, which regulates Fannie and Freddie, approved Freddie’s request to provide financing to nonbanks. In its list of 2018 goals for the companies, the FHFA said they should find ways to support mortgage-servicing liquidity.

Fannie Response

Renee Schultz, Fannie’s senior vice president for capital markets, said Fannie is not planning a similar program to Freddie.

“We think there’s plenty of private capital out there for financing of servicing rights,” Schultz said.

Source:https://www.bloomberg.com/amp/news/articles/2018-05-07/freddie-mac-is-quietly-helping-out-the-u-s-s-new-mortgage-kings

Nationstar Mortgage may face a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau enforcement action over alleged violations of the Real Estate Settlement Act and other regulations, the Mr. Cooper parent company said.

The potential enforcement action against Dallas-based Nationstar is based on “alleged violations of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, the Consumer Financial Protection Act and the Homeowners Protection Act,” according to the company’s latest 10-Q filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Last week, the lender and servicer reported net income of $160 million for the first quarter of 2018

The alleged violations stem from a 2014 examination. RESPA regulates consumer costs and fees in real estate transactions. The Homeowners Protection Act is a 1998 law pertaining to private mortgage insurance cancellation. The Consumer Financial Protection Act is the law that created the CFPB and dictates oversight of fair lending laws, among other provisions.

The bureau notified Nationstar it was considering the enforcement action through its “Notice and Opportunity to Respond and Advise” process, through which investigated parties can present their position to the bureau before the CFPB decides whether to proceed with an enforcement action.

“There can be no assurance that the CFPB will not seek to exercise its enforcement authority through settlement, administrative proceedings or litigation and seek injunctive relief, damages restitution or civil money penalties, which could have a material adverse effect,” according to the SEC filing.

However, the company has not recorded an accrual related to the possible enforcement action and “does not believe a loss is probable.”

The CFPB last year fined Nationstar almost $2 million for Home Mortgage Disclosure Act violations. Although there was no evidence consumers were directly affected by its failure to accurately report the home mortgage data used to identify discrimination, and other type of CFPB fines can be much higher, this was a large civil penalty for a HMDA violation.

The bureau has dropped several pending investigations recently, including one involving Altisource, a mortgage servicing technology firm with ties to Nationstar competitor Ocwen.

Source: https://www.nationalmortgagenews.com/news/cfpb-warns-nationstar-mortgage-that-respa-penalty-may-be-coming

Mortgage loan processor: definition

The mortgage loan processor is the link between you, your loan officer and your underwriter. And he or she is arguably the most important member of the team.

Many processors take your application so you don’t have to fill out forms

Processors pull all the pieces together – they may order open escrow, appraisals and inspections, pull credit reports, verify your income and document your assets

Processors submit your application package and follow up on requests from the underwriter

Of course, every lender has its own process and its own rules for processors.

Verify your new rate (Apr 22nd, 2018)

Mortgage loan processor roles

The National Association of Mortgage Processors says, “The primary function of the Loan Processor is to ensure the timely and accurate packaging of all loans originated by loan officers.” So it’s mostly an administrative role.

How do I know that I’ll be approved for a mortgage?

Mortgage loan processors typically:

Collect and collate all the information needed to approve a loan and make informed decisions concerning an application

Input that information into the lender’s IT systems

Verify information through documents you supply

Make third-party checks with credit bureaus, employers, accountants and so on

Order an appraisal of the home

Obtain title insurance and flood insurance (if needed)

Ensure the compliance of your case with regulatory requirements and internal policies

Order the final loan documents

Ensure the loan stays on track to close on time

Schedule appointment for closing

You can usually expect a mortgage loan processor to be involved throughout the application process: from pre-approval to closing.

Working with your loan processor

Some lenders see loan processing as an entirely “back-office” function. You may never even meet your processor and your only contact may be your loan officer.

However, other lenders encourage direct contact between processors and applicants. So what should you expect if you get a call or email from yours?

Mortgage closing: What happens at your signing?

What you should hope for is someone who’s an expert administrator with a focus on moving your mortgage application through the system in a timely way. In this sense, your processor’s goals overlap perfectly with yours.

Seeing it from your processor’s point of view

However, you risk coming into conflict over the minutiae of your case. You can’t understand why she’s so insistent on receiving January’s bank statement and last month’s pay stub (you know they’re somewhere) so urgently. And she can’t understand why you don’t just get on and send them.

The fact is, your processor is responsible for ensuring your application complies with a whole raft of external regulations and internal policies. And it’s highly unlikely she personally will have the discretion to overlook any compliance requirements.

Advantages of a good relationship

Having said that, a processor often has some workarounds. He might suggest an alternative that might get you out of a hole. For instance, it can be difficult proving that you’re receiving alimony if you don’t deposit it separately or keep copies of the checks. And who wants to have to ask their ex for canceled checks?

A processor may find a way around this, ordering copies of the actual deposits from your bank. So you need him on your side. The last thing you want is to be deliberately unhelpful or gratuitously rude.

In fact, building a good working relationship with her can help you. You want her to see you as a person rather than a case number each time she picks up your file. Even the most objective professionals work harder for those they like.

Self-help for mortgage applicants

Of course, the easiest way to get your mortgage loan processor to like you is to cause him as few headaches as possible. You can do that by supplying all the documents he needs upfront and anticipating any queries that might arise from them.

How to rush your mortgage to the closing table

No matter what sort of mortgage you’re applying for, your lender will want to satisfy itself over six areas of your life. It will need documents to support claims you make about your:

Identity — Photo ID, social security number, past residential addresses

Employment history and income stability

Credit and debt management ability

Expenses, payments and account balances

Assets, including cash, retirement and investment accounts

The source of funds for your down payment, if purchasing

Be prepared

Your lender will get your credit reports and scores itself. But you’ll be expected to supply it with the paperwork it needs to verify the other information.

You can do yourself a big favor by pulling together all the documents you’re going to need before you make your application for either a mortgage or pre-approval. It’s one less thing to worry about later when you’ll be under pressure. And it will give you a chance to get copies of anything that’s been lost in your filing system.

The documentation required for today’s best mortgage rates

Be patient

The extent to which lenders will crawl over your personal finances can feel intrusive. And their tick-box systems can feel overly rigid and bureaucratic. But remember:

You’re asking to borrow a huge amount of money so it’s only reasonable they’ll want to know all about you

They may not be asking for themselves. They often have to comply with third-party rules from regulators or loan guarantors, such as Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the VA, the FHA and so on

Their main objective is to make sure you can comfortably afford payments on your new mortgage and won’t get into financial trouble later

Your best way to navigate through this stressful time is with Zen-like calm. Taking out your irritation, resentment or frustration on your mortgage loan processor is unlikely to help.

Source:https://themortgagereports.com/37333/my-mortgage-is-in-processing-what-does-a-mortgage-loan-processor-do

Quicken Loans executives speak at mortgage industry conference in Detroit.

Gilbert says Quicken Loans is more of a “data acquisition business” than mortgage company.

Emerson: Young consumers won’t change how they make purchases with smartphones.

Quicken Loans Inc. founder Dan Gilbert is a mortgage mogul.

Except he doesn’t view his business that way.

“We’re not really in the mortgage business. We’re in the data acquisition business,” Gilbert said Tuesday at a Mortgage Bankers Association conference at the Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center. “We acquire data, we curate it and we move it. That’s all we do.”

Gilbert and Quicken Loans’ vice chairman, Bill Emerson, shared the stage Tuesday morning at an opening session of their industry group’s conference, talking about how they see their business differently than its traditionally viewed by outside observers.

They talked about Quicken Loans’ transformation from a paper-intensive residential mortgage business in the 1980s and 1990s — then known as Rock Financial — to a tech-driven company based in downtown Detroit that has leveraged the internet to sell and service home loans faster and at rapidly increasing volume.

Quicken Loans has climbed to the top echelon of the mortgage business, claiming to top, for the first time, industry stalwart Wells Fargo & Co. in volume of mortgage originations in the fourth quarter of 2017. First-quarter 2018 mortgage origination data is not yet available, but Emerson suggested Tuesday that Quicken Loans would retain the top spot in the direct retail mortgage sector.

Without naming competitors, Gilbert said the ability to use a smartphone to make a major purchase like a home threatens the business model of legacy companies and industries.

“If they don’t get on the train, it’s going to be over,” he said. “The writing’s on the wall, right?”

In the future, Gilbert said, the only businesses that will survive are those that “keep up with the speed of the game,” invest time and capital in new ideas and “let people fail.”

“We’re seeing it already,” Gilbert said.

Emerson, who joined Gilbert’s company in 1993, took out his iPhone and noted the smartphone has all of the functions of multiple machines “that Radio Shack would sell — clocks and phones and computers and calculators” to customers just a decade ago.

Radio Shack, which went through bankruptcy 2015 and shuttered nearly all of its stores a year ago, is an obsolete way to shop for the average first-time homebuyer who is 32 years old, Emerson said.

“They’re not going to change the way that they purchase things, they’re not going to change what they do with this little device,” said Emerson, who spent 15 years as CEO of Quicken Loans until becoming vice chairman in February 2017. “If we don’t, as an industry, embrace this, get our brains around it … we’re out of the game.”

Source: http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20180417/news/658381/gilbert-were-not-really-in-the-mortgage-business

Amid saguaro cactuses and yucca plants, Lauren Rosin shows off a house that she’s renovating in Phoenix’s Central Corridor, a pricy neighborhood north of downtown.

“This was actually a courtyard and I blew it out,” she says, pointing to what will now be an extra-large open kitchen with custom cabinets, quartz countertops and chandelier-style lighting. She’ll also upgrade the swimming pool in the backyard.

But Rosin won’t live in the four-bedroom, three-bath midcentury ranch once it’s finished. She and her business partner Brad Pickett are house flippers: Pickett buys the homes, and Rosin leads a crew of contractors to rehab them. They flipped 27 homes last year.

These days, profits are tight, and they face stiff competition.

That’s because a decade after the U.S. housing bubble burst, house flipping is on the rise again. Defined as reselling a house within a year of purchase, flipping is at an 11-year high in the United States and it’s the subject of dozens of TV shows and weekend workshops promising to teach real estate novices how to make a fortune.

New research shows that flippers contributed to the housing crash of the mid-2000s more than economists initially realized. Because some of the same practices from the boom are making a comeback, some market watchers are concerned that the real estate market might once again be nearing a bubble.

But for now, experts say those concerns are overblown, thanks to changes in the mortgage industry and other factors.

The last time this many homes were being flipped was during the housing bubble. Flipping peaked in 2005, when 8.2 percent of all single-family homes sold nationwide were flips, about 344,000 homes, according to Attom Data Solutions, a research firm that collects and analyzes nationwide real estate data.

In areas where the bubble was growing fastest, flip rates were even higher. In Las Vegas and some parts of Florida, the flip rate reached nearly 19 percent. In Phoenix, about 16 percent of homes sold were flips.

A look at the market in Phoenix, considered a bellwether by industry experts, is a good way to see how things have changed or not. More than 8,500 homes — or 8.5 percent — sold in the Phoenix metropolitan area last year were flips, more homes than anywhere else in the country, according to Attom.

Before the crash a decade ago, flippers didn’t need to do much to make money. Financing was easy to get; people with high credit ratings could use no-income, no-asset loans to buy real estate. The housing bubble was inflating so fast, investors could buy, hold — sometimes renting out the properties to make a bit extra, sometimes renting at a loss, sometimes not even bothering to rent — then sell, over and over again.

Then the floor fell out from under the housing market.

Lauren Rosin got into flipping in 2009, during the bust. In Phoenix, the crash was disastrous. Homes on average lost 56 percent of their value. Lenders foreclosed on tens of thousands of families.

A shrinking inventory of affordable housing and rising mortgage rates are making the real estate market even more competitive for homeowners. Those looking for an edge may want to consider getting a loan from a financial technology startup, otherwise known as a fintech.

A new report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and New York University issued by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that technology-driven lenders have created efficiencies in the home lending business that give them an edge over traditional lenders. These fintechs are able to process loans quicker, can better handle movements in demand and have fewer loans that end up defaulting. They are also gaining on their traditional brethren, with the study finding that fintech lenders’ market share jumped to 8% in 2016 from 2% in 2010. In 2010, the fintechs originated $34 billion in mortgages. That stood at $161 billion as of the end of 2016. A lot of the growth came from Federal Housing Administration loans.

[Check out Investopedia’s mortgage calculator to find out how much home you can afford.]

In terms of their ability to process mortgage loans, the research revealed that fintechs are doing so about 20% quicker than traditional lenders. “Faster processing does not come at the cost of higher defaults. Fintech lenders adjust supply more elastically than other lenders in response to exogenous mortgage demand shocks, thereby alleviating capacity constraints associated with traditional mortgage lending,” wrote the New York Fed and New York University in the report. “In areas with more fintech lending, borrowers refinance more, especially when it is in their interest to do so. We find no evidence that fintech lenders target marginal borrowers. Our results suggest that technological innovation has improved the efficiency of financial intermediation in the U.S. mortgage market.”

The researchers found that around 25% of mortgages issued by fintechs defaulted, which is lower than the industry average. That derails the argument that fintechs engage in lax screening of borrowers and actually implies they are attracting and providing home loans to borrowers who are less risky.

As for who is taking out a mortgage with a fintech over a traditional lender, the study found that the borrowers tend to be from more educated populations and are older, which may be surprising but could be because they are more familiar with the process of getting a mortgage and thus require less hand-holding. What’s more, the study found no evidence that fintechs are going after marginal borrowers and reported that there is no digital divide in mortgage lending.

“Recent technological innovations are improving the efficiency of the U.S. mortgage market. We find that fintech lenders process mortgages more quickly without increasing loan risk, respond more elastically to demand shocks, and increase the propensity to refinance, especially among borrowers that are likely to benefit from it,” wrote the researchers.

Source: https://www.investopedia.com/news/fintechs-give-mortgage-borrowers-edge/

While it’s not quite the same as the down payment assistance that the government-sponsored enterprises used to allow, lenders now have a new way to help borrowers buy a home – closing cost assistance.

Fannie Mae announced this week that it will now allow lenders to contribute to borrowers’ closing costs, as long as the money is a gift and is not used towards a borrower’s down payment.

Over the last few years, Freddie Mac on a larger scale, and Fannie Mae on a smaller scale, allowed lenders to gift money to borrowers that could be used on their down payment on a 3% down mortgage.

Under the programs, lenders would “grant” 2% of the down payment to the borrower. Add that to the borrower’s 1% contribution, and you would have the 3% needed to qualify for the Fannie and Freddie programs.

These programs fell out of favor after some lenders began rolling the “grants” back into the loans themselves in the form of premium pricing, wherein the lender would charge a higher interest rate in exchange for the down payment assistance.

That raised some flags with the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which eventually led to Freddie ending the program last summer.

At the time, the FHFA told HousingWire that it was monitoring the situation and had some concerns about the risks associated with charging certain borrowers higher interest rates in exchange for down payment assistance.

The FHFA told HousingWire that it was concerned that those borrowers might end up paying more over the life of the mortgage than what the lender provided in assistance.

So, the down payment assistance programs ended, at least in terms of the 2% coming directly from the lender and needing to be repaid.

Recently, HousingWire exclusively reported that United Wholesale Mortgage would be ending its 1% down program, in which the lender was gifting the entire 2% of the down payment to the borrower and not pricing the gift into the loan.

But now, lenders who sell their loans to Fannie Mae can begin offering closing cost assistance to borrowers, under certain circumstances.

According to an announcement sent this week by Fannie Mae to lenders, the money must be in the form of a gift and cannot be subject to any sort of repayment requirement.

Additionally, the money must not be used to fund any portion of the borrower’s down payment. The money can be used for closing costs and fees only.

Fannie Mae also said that there is no limit on the amount a lender can give to a borrower, just as long as it does not exceed the total closing cost amount.

“We’re making it easier for borrowers to purchase a home by allowing lenders to fund closing costs and prepaid fees,” Fannie Mae Chief Credit Officer for Single-Family Carlos Perez said in a letter to lenders.

“While there is no limit to the amount of the lender-sourced contributions, the funds cannot be used toward a down payment, cannot exceed the total closing costs, and should not be subject to any form of repayment agreement,” Perez added.

Additionally, Fannie Mae notes in its lender bulletin that the closing cost assistance must come directly from the lender and cannot be passed to the lender from a third party.

And now, for the fine print, taken from Fannie’s lender bulletin:

The amount of the lender contribution should not exceed the amount of borrower-paid closing costs and prepaid fees. Otherwise, the amount of the contribution is not limited except when the lender is an interested party to a purchase transaction as defined in B3-4.1-02, Interested Party Contributions, and in that case, the interested party contribution (IPC) policy applies. Any excess lender credit required to be returned to the borrower in accordance with applicable regulatory requirements is considered an overpayment of fees and charges, and may be applied as a principal curtailment or returned in cash to the borrower.

A spokesperson for Fannie Mae told HousingWire that the program was previously available on a limited trial basis to certain lenders. But now, the GSE is making the option available to all lenders.

According to Fannie Mae, lenders can begin contributing to borrowers’ closing costs under those specified conditions immediately. The change goes into effect now.

Source:https://www.housingwire.com/articles/43022-fannie-mae-now-allowing-lenders-to-contribute-to-borrower-closing-costs

The amendments to the Know Before You Owe/TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure rule issued last month were a long time coming, but overall were worth the wait.

TRID 2.0 addressed many of the pain points that our industry has struggled with over the past two years. The new rule becomes effective 60 days after it is published in the Federal Register, but compliance isn’t mandatory until October 1, 2018.

From a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau-watcher’s perspective, it appears that the Bureau heard and responded to the mortgage industry’s concerns, but there are still a handful of large issues that remain. While the CFPB stopped short of immediately closing the “black hole” that generally prevents lenders from re-setting fee tolerances when a Closing Disclosure has been issued prematurely, it did issue a new proposed amendment to address this problem. Concerned about unintended consequences, the CFPB is asking for comments on the proposed “black hole” fix.

Having said that, industry reaction to TRID 2.0 was mixed. Some lenders expressed disappointment that additional cure provisions for violations were not included, while secondary market investors were pleased that TRID 2.0 addressed many ambiguities in the original rule that could potentially create assignee liability.

Probably the strongest negative reaction came from the title industry. Michelle Korsmo, the American Land Title Association CEO, opined in a press release that the rule still results in consumers not receiving accurate information about title insurance costs. She stated, “While the CFPB’s disclosures have helped homebuyers better understand their mortgage costs, consumers would value their disclosures more if the CFPB showed the accurate costs of title insurance instead of the incremental costs.”

Here are some of the more significant changes contained in the 560-page TRID 2.0 document:

–Clarification of “no tolerance fees.” The new rule makes it clear certain products and services, such as property insurance, impound and escrow amounts, are still excluded from zero and 10 percent tolerances, even if they are paid to an affiliate of the lender. The only caveat is that the original estimates can’t be unreasonably low. Also, the preamble to the amended rule reaffirms that “typographical errors regarding a settlement service…do not subject the charges for such a service to the zero percent tolerance category…” in most instances.

–Construction loan disclosures. The Bureau made a number of additions to Appendix D, and clarified how construction loan inspection and phase-specific fees should be disclosed before and after the project is completed. If the fees are collected after the project is completed, they must now be disclosed in an addendum to both the Loan Estimate and the CD. Additional clarifications were also made regarding how construction costs, existing lien payoffs and unsecured debt payoffs are disclosed.

–Written List of Providers. The CFPB said that changes could be made to Form H-27 without losing safe harbor protections. The amended rule also clarifies when a service is considered “shoppable.” In addition, the Bureau said that a WLP may exclude a list of fee estimates not required by the lender, such as title search, notary, and fees for other administrative services.

–Re-disclosures after Rate Lock. A lender must issue a revised LE after the interest rate has been initially locked if no CD has been issued. Once a CD has been issued, the lender must issue a revised CD if the rate lock makes the CD inaccurate.

–Cost reductions after initial LE. The Bureau clarified that cost reductions of certain items don’t automatically reset tolerances. Tolerance determinations are based on comparisons between “the charge paid by or imposed on the consumer” versus “the amount originally disclosed” or a revised estimate.

Based on our discussions with clients, the overall reaction to these changes seemed to be positive. However, many clients are still working their way through the documents and probably won’t start implementing these changes in their systems and workflows until after the deadline for the GSE’s Uniform Closing Dataset compliance has passed.

(Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect policy of the Mortgage Bankers Association, nor do they connote an MBA endorsement of a specific company, product or service. MBA Insights welcomes your submissions. Inquiries can be sent to Mike Sorohan, editor, at msorohan@mba.org; or Michael Tucker, editorial manager, at mtucker@mba.org.)

Source: https://www.mba.org/publications/insights/archive/mba-insights-archive/2016/trid-20-more-clarity-and-a-potential-fix-for-the-black-hole