Higher housing costs and interest rates are driving more and more consumers to the housing rental market.  For investors looking to profit from the growing demand for rental housing, one of the best options for purchasing a rental property is a Debt Service Coverage Ratio or “DSCR” loan.  Demand for DSCR loans has surged as […]

Recently, MISMO announced that its Mortgage Compliance Dataset (MCD) specification has reached “Candidate Recommendation” status and is ready for industry adoption.  The road has been long to get to this point but the MCD is meant to address a key portion of the regulatory examination burden.  The Need for MCD The regulatory examination process has […]

By Diane Jenkins, Attorney and Director of Legal, Asurity As most servicers are well aware, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) recently issued new proposed servicing rules essentially overhauling the existing loss mitigation process.  The existing rules governing mortgage servicing have been in place since 2014 and include rigid timing and documentation requirements servicers must […]

By Diane Jenkins, Attorney and Director of Legal, Asurity The determination of a home’s value is a critical step in the mortgage process as it determines how much a lender is willing to extend to a borrower and on what terms.  In general, the valuation is done through an appraisal which is intended to be an […]

Compliance risk assessments are the backbone of an effective compliance management system (“CMS”). They enable active risk management by identifying and measuring compliance risks both inherent and realized across the institution.  In addition, they inform monitoring and testing schedules, dictate the types and amounts of resources (both human and technological) allocated by the institution, and […]

The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board)[1], the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)[2], and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Treasury[3], issued comprehensive joint guidance[4] on managing risks associated with third-party relationships. This guidance provides pertinent information for banking institutions to readily address the complexities and potential risks that […]

For mortgage lenders, the mortgage process can be daunting, with its myriad regulations and requirements. Among these, the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure (TRID) Rule, implemented by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in 2015, stands out for its impact on disclosure timing and tolerance requirements for mortgage lenders. In the first two posts of this series […]

The higher interest rate environment has given rise to a renewed interest in the use of temporary buydowns to help borrowers lower their initial monthly mortgage payments.  A temporary buydown allows a lender, seller, builder or other third party to deposit funds which will subsidize the borrower’s mortgage payments for a predetermined period of time, […]

The mortgage process can be daunting, with its myriad regulations and requirements. Among these, the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure (TRID) Rule, implemented by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in 2015, stands out for its impact on disclosure timing requirements for mortgage lenders. Similar to the fee tolerance requirements discussed in Part 1 of this series, […]

Fannie Mae recently published Fair Servicing Best Practices (“FSBP”). Developed with input from more than 30 mortgage servicers and community advocacy groups, the FSBP is intended to ensure Fannie Mae servicers are aware of the expectations that servicers will treat all borrowers fairly and consistently, and comply with the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (“ECOA”), the […]