When we are tired, we are susceptible to deception. As much as you feel you are armed and ready to spot a scam, this isn’t always true when you’re tired, multitasking, stressed or just overwhelmed with life. Even the most astute individuals can fall prey to scams when their cognitive abilities are temporarily compromised. Research […]

The Challenge: Speed, Compliance, and Cost Efficiency In today’s mortgage market, lenders must close loans quickly, ensure compliance, and minimize costs while maintaining confidence in loan salability. The challenge? Traditional and often manual processes introduce errors, delays, compliance risks, and inefficiencies that can drive up expenses and jeopardize secondary market execution. With the combined capabilities […]

The Crime There is a growing threat of "title pirates," scammers who fraudulently seize property titles for illegal sales, a problem exacerbated by the increasing reliance on digital real estate transactions. These scammers exploit weaknesses in public records, crafting forged deeds and assuming false seller identities. They often target vulnerable properties, such as vacant land, […]

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 […]

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, […]