Fun with HMDA! Compliance folks everywhere know that yesterday the CFPB (“educate through education rather than enforcement”) issued a final rule amending Regulation C to extend the current temporary threshold of 500 open-end lines of credit to January 1, 2022. The final rule also incorporates into Regulation C the interpretations and procedures from the interpretive and procedural rule issued by the Bureau in August 2018, and further implements the amendments made to the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act by the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act. You can access the final rule here. The Bureau has also posted a summary of the final rule and an unofficial, informal redline reflecting changes to Regulation C to assist industry and other stakeholders.

Lender Products and Services

Evolve Mortgage Services/Signia Documents recently added Katie Paolangeli to its experienced eMortgage team. Katie has been aiding the mortgage industry’s move to electronic mortgages for 15+ years, spending the past 14 years as a key member of MERSserving as VP of eCommerce. She was the project lead for the MERS® eRegistry and oversaw the integration of dozens of MERS members onto the eRegistry. She joins a team led by Charlie Epperson, widely considered a founding father of the eMortgage space, and who currently sits on the board at MISMO and chairs the Education Committee. Evolve/Signia is leading the way towards a truly digital mortgage and eClosing using data from end to end with an entire library of Category 1 SMART Docs and unmatched expertise in the space. SMART Docs eliminate OCR and scanning PDFs, allowing seamless and accurate data flow from application to close. Contact Mike Romano to learn more.

Spring EQ Wholesale, the industry's premier second lien lender, offers 95% combo, 100% CLTV stand-alone and pays Lender Paid Compensation (LPC) up to $10,000. Spring EQ is excited to announce the following product enhancements: FICO score tiers have been lowered (700 FICO for 100% CLTV, 660 FICO for 90% CLTV, 640 FICO for 70% CLTV), investment properties now allowed to 70% CLTV, and debt ratio’s allowed to 50% DTI.  In addition, fixed rates have been lowered up to 190 Bps. Spring EQ is now offering fixed rates that are below the prime rate, which is the HELOC rates index, a fiscally responsible, budget friendly way for clients with needs to tap their available equity. For more information, or to partner, please contact your Account Executive or visit Spring EQ Wholesale here.

In Tuesday, October 2’s Chrisman Report, a national lender referenced guidelines for down payment assistance (DPA) programs requiring a legal opinion per Mortgagee Letter 2019-06. CBC Mortgage Agency reminds the industry that FHA withdrew that letter in response to ligation. NONE of its provisions are in effect. As part of the litigation, FHA acknowledged that there are no jurisdictional limitations on government DPA providers (click here). Relatedly, industry rumors indicate that HUD plans to limit national government DPA programs by redefining what it means to improperly “financially benefit” from a transaction. Any new restrictions or definitions imposed by FHA on government DPA must be done through notice-and-comment rulemaking, which requires public participation and typically takes 12-24 months to complete. To support any new rule, HUD must first collect loan performance data on individual programs. Since such a rule would significantly impact tribes, HUD must also conduct meaningful tribal consultation.

What if you had a marketing technology solution that equipped you to close 5.9 more loans per year – per LO? What if you could increase your ROI by as much as 321% and reach payback for your technology solution in less than nine months? These are just a few of the findings uncovered in The Total Economic Impact™ of the Total Expert Marketing Operating System (MOS), a Total Expert commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting. Join our live webinar on Oct. 15 at 1 p.m. as we explore how leading financial brands are leveraging the Total Expert MOS to increase productivity and drive optimal business outcomes. 

Vendor Developments

Yesterday Finicity announced it has partnered with American Financial Resources (AFR) to provide “a faster, simpler and more secure way to verify assets and income while originating loans… Through Finicity’s verification platform, borrower assets can be confirmed within minutes, without the need to find, copy and scan piles of paper documents for verification. This can reduce the mortgage origination time by more than a week while eliminating the hassle of paper documents and manual processes.”

Sun West Mortgage Company today announced its decision to license Cloudvirga, a digital mortgage point-of-sale software provider, and its growing suite of technology offerings to Sun West Mortgage loan offers and borrowers. Sun West will become the first Cloudvirga customer to utilize a pair of exclusive new technology offerings, DocCertainty and HomDNA, within its point-of-sale software, the Cloudvirga Digital Mortgage Platform. And Cloudvirga and Envoy Mortgage Ltd, an independently owned national mortgage lender serving retail originators, have partnered to provide the Cloudvirga Digital Mortgage Platform to Envoy Mortgage loan officers and borrowers.

Homebot, Inc. announced enhancements to its refinance module, including the addition of support for adjustable-rate mortgages. The interactive module helps Aiming to address volatile market conditions, the module allows homeowners to easily explore various refinance options. Homebot lets the homeowner indicate the number of years they plan to remain in their home, then automates the complex amortizations and calculations to present wealth-building potential with hypothetical refi scenarios. This is all completed in real time and tailored to the homeowner's unique financial situation. Loan officers can track refi module engagement, enabling them to contact clients at the right time with professional guidance about refinancing.

Finastra launched its Fusion Mortgagebot Data Insights Tool. The machine-learning driven tool will provide banks and credit unions with powerful data and analytics about mortgage borrower behavior to assist with developing strategic revenue-generating portfolios. And Finastra announced a new development to its open banking platform, FusionFabric.cloud, in partnership with Monotto. This partnership has led to the release of Monotto's latest personal savings tool: RoboSave. The tool was built in collaboration with banks and credit unions and serves as another example of artificial intelligence's ability to automate personal savings. RoboSave, looks at the way users spend money, calculating how much they would need in their safety net to take on life’s emergencies. Using AI, RoboSave determines how much consumers can save without affecting spending habits and automatically draws it into a personalized savings pot.

DocMagic has completed an integration with cloud-based loan origination system (LOS) provider LendingPad from WEI Technology LLC, offering its document preparation services directly from within the LendingPad environment. The new integration was completed in only 60 days and provides seamless access to DocMagic’s fully TRID-compliant documents, state-specific disclosures and paperless digital mortgage process. Users can order, generate, manage, receive and deliver electronically signed TRID-compliant documents such as the loan estimate (LE), closing disclosure (CD) and other relevant lending documentation. DocMagic’s Audit Engine automates data and document validation throughout key phases in the lending process with continuous compliance checks, providing accuracy always.

Capital Markets

MCT is proud to announce the addition of the Freddie Mac Cash-Released XChange browse price API to the integration between Freddie Mac and the MCTlive! platform. Leveraging the browse price API, MCTlive! lenders can now accurately and conveniently utilize Freddie Mac Cash-Released XChange in their best execution analysis. Prior to the addition of this API, pricing a large population of loans individually via Freddie Mac’s Loan Selling Advisor was manual and time-consuming. Alternatively, the typical practice of using a single scenario-based rate sheet often results in inaccuracies of 30+ BPS when factors such as state or loan amount differ from the proxy scenario. Through the new Freddie Mac Cash-Released XChange API on MCTlive!, loan populations of any size receive loan-level, characteristic-based pricing with a single click. Combined with MCTlive! Rapid Commit, lenders can take advantage of an accurate, end-to-end process for these executions for the first time. LEARN MORE

Why’d rates go up yesterday? The same reason they’ve been going up and down for the last several months: trade chatter. The U.S. and China began two days of talks aimed at easing hostilities in the 18-month trade war, with both sides signaling cautious optimism in securing a partial deal that could lead to a temporary truce on tariffs. Markets seem to believe something will be done to avoid the next round of tariff increases. U.S. Treasuries retreated to their highest levels of the month, including the 10-year closing the day +7 bps to 1.66 percent, though this was as much due to a cool September CPI report as the lack of specifics reported about the trade talks. The year over year CPI changes remained the same as in August, and that firming could give the Fed some possible cover to hold off on a rate cut later this month. Finally, the $16 billion 30-year bond reopening Treasury auction saw lukewarm demand, and the selloff coincided with hopeful talk surrounding Brexit.

I’m sending this out darned early, so can only guess that rates will be a little up, down, or unchanged when bonds start trading. We have news ahead today of little consequence: Import & Export prices for September, preliminary October Michigan sentiment, remarks from three Fed presidents (Minneapolis’ Kashkari, Boston’s Rosengren, and Dallas’ Kaplan). Have a great Friday, and don’t forget that the U.S. bond markets are closed Monday, and pricing folks will be a little defensive – and rightly so.

Employment

“Do not miss out on this unique opportunity!! PCF Wholesale is looking to hire top notch Sales Associates who are actively producing a high volume of business. We PAY for proven production both in sign on bonus and increased commissions while ramping up. Get in early with a proven wholesale lender. Tired of legacy issues with a potential employer? Not getting compensated what you deserve? Missing out on various products? From agency to proprietary Non-QM, we have a home for your Brokers loans. We have tested and perfected and are now ready to expand. If you are an Account Executive, Sales Manager and or Regional Manager in the Wholesale Mortgage Space and are currently funding at least $5 million per month we want to talk to you. If you are interested, please email us (PCFwholesale.com): Built for Brokers.”

PRMG is Built by Originators for OriginatorsTM and is devoted to continuously growing its platform which includes Wholesale, Retail and Correspondent channels. Ranked within the Top 25 of the Best 100 Mortgage Companies and in the Top 5 of the 50 Best Companies to Work for in America, PRMG is on its way to becoming a billion dollar a month company with over $900 million funded in the month of August and September! If you are looking to work with a privately owned company that is large enough to serve you yet small enough to know you and is on the cutting edge of technology please contact Kevin Peranio.

Perch, a real estate technology company, is looking for a highly enthusiastic Mortgage Loan Officer who is passionate about serving Perch's clients from Origination to Closing. Perch has offices in New York, Austin, Dallas and San Antonio, and raised over $50 million in financing from top tier investors. "We are looking for Home Loan Advisors (HLAs) to help serve our captive Real Estate clients. This is an exciting opportunity to join an early stage venture-backed company which serves its clients. The ideal candidate possesses deep lending knowledge and experience in Texas residential mortgage lending, including a valid Texas Residential Mortgage Loan Originator license". For more information on the role and company, please see our full posting here.

Are you looking to work in a fast-paced, fast growth and positive environment with loads of opportunity? If so then we want you to join our team. Is culture important to you? Is compensation important to you? Is being with a company that values its employees important to you? If you answered yes to theses 3 questions you owe it to yourself to contact Carrington Mortgage Correspondent for a confidential conversation. Carrington Mortgage Correspondent is experiencing tremendous growth and we are hiring for a number of positions immediately, including Purchasers, Relationship Managers and Loan Setup personnel. If interested please contact John Cervantes.