A Synergy survey finds Gen Y find the following to be the most important bank features and services: ease of doing business (88%), continual access to ATM, internet and phone (85%) and online banking (80%). Not listed is the ability of having the CEO of your bank, a leading mortgage lender, doused with ice water.

Switching gears, here is something we sure don't see happen very often! A judge has tossed out mortgage-backed securities litigation brought by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. against Credit Suisse Group and Deutsche Bank. The judge ruled that the FDIC had filed its action too late.

Do you think that only a written notice is required to effectuate a right of rescission? Think again! The US Supreme Court will soon decide whether a lawsuit must be filed to exercise the right of rescission within three years of a residential mortgage loan's consummation - in order to make the rescission effective. In "TILA versus TILA: Rescission by Notice or Lawsuit," a White Paper authored by Jonathan Foxx, the President & Managing Director of Lenders Compliance Group, you will read an analysis of the startling maze of conflicting court findings that must now be resolved by the US Supreme Court. Are the courts about to be inundated with a huge number of lawsuits by borrowers seeking rescission?

Yesterday was a heady day in terms of reminding us of government's impact on all facets of lending and financial services. The Federal Reserve Board, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency finalized a rule to strengthen the liquidity positions of large financial institutions. The rule will for the first time create a standardized minimum liquidity requirement for large and internationally active banking organizations. "Each institution will be required to hold high quality, liquid assets (HQLA) such as central bank reserves and government and corporate debt that can be converted easily and quickly into cash in an amount equal to or greater than its projected cash outflows minus its projected cash inflows during a 30-day stress period. The ratio of the firm's liquid assets to its projected net cash outflow is its 'liquidity coverage ratio,' or LCR. The LCR will apply to all banking organizations with $250 billion or more in total consolidated assets or $10 billion or more in on-balance sheet foreign exposure and to these banking organizations' subsidiary depository institutions that have assets of $10 billion or more. The rule also will apply a less stringent, modified LCR to bank holding companies and savings and loan holding companies that do not meet these thresholds, but have $50 billion or more in total assets. Bank holding companies and savings and loan holding companies with substantial insurance or commercial operations are not covered by the final rule.

New Penn Financial, LLC is buying Shelter Mortgage Company, a full-service mortgage lender headquartered in Milwaukee, WI. Shelter has certainly had its share of personnel issues, and rumored attempts at merging the company with other lenders did not work. The press release notes that Shelter has a partnership-based model with realtors, builders, and relocation companies and focusing on purchase money loans. Upon completion of the acquisition, Shelter Mortgage and its subsidiaries will become a wholly owned subsidiary of New Penn Financial/Shellpoint Partners, LLC, doubling the size of New Penn's retail channel. "Shelter Mortgage represents a strategic addition to our comprehensive family of mortgage-based companies." said Bruce Williams, Co-CEO of Shellpoint Partners LLC.

Not to be outdone, BB&T will acquire additional Texas branches from Citibank. The acquisition includes 41 branches with $2.3 billion in deposits and $87 million in loans in the Dallas, Houston, Midland and Odessa markets (0.15 percent average cost of deposits). It is a 5.3 percent deposit premium paid on total deposits, and this follows a 21 branch acquisition completed in June.

In Pennsylvania Mid Penn Bancorp, Inc., headquartered in Millersburg, and Phoenix Bancorp, Inc. headquartered in Minersville, announced the signing of a definitive merger agreement which calls for Mid Penn to acquire Phoenix in a transaction valued at approximately $14.5 million. The transaction expands Mid Penn's footprint in Schuylkill County and into Luzerne County. On a pro forma basis, the consolidated assets of the combined company will be approximately $875 million.

Let's keep going with some company-specific news - it seems like I am always playing catch up.

Capital Markets Cooperative, LLC (CMC) announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, CMC Funding Inc., has been selected by the Federal Home Loan Bank of Cincinnati (FHLB Cincinnati) and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Indianapolis (FHLBI) as its partner for the servicing-released portion of the Mortgage Purchase Program (MPP). "CMC shares a common philosophy and we all provide our members outstanding value along with superb support" said Tom Millon, CEO and President of CMC. "CMC is focused on flexibility, adaptability and service for the MPP customers. We developed state-of-the-art technology for the delivery of the servicing asset, and will provide liquidity and more product options to the FHLB's community lenders."

Mortgage insurance company United Guaranty has introduced SecureCert, a suite of five options that allow lenders to choose the maximum rescission relief available in the MI industry-at no added cost. The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is requiring all mortgage insurers to adopt new master policies, effective October 1, to provide more uniform, industry-wide standards for rescission relief and claims handling. SecureCert provides comprehensive rescission relief-except in instances of first-party fraud. Also, with its Day One Protection options, United Guaranty assumes responsibility for MI underwriting mistakes when it reviews loan file documents. SecureCert offers two options that provide rescission relief at 36 months and three options that accelerate rescission relief from 36 months to 12 months with the submission of additional documents.

AllRegs spread the word that VA announced new appraisal requirements: VA will now require appraisers to include the Fannie Mae Form 1004MC (Market Conditions Addendum), in all VA appraisal reports.

Mountain West Financial Wholesale Credit Policy Updates include adherence to mortgage debt discharged through bankruptcy, even if a foreclosure action is subsequently completed to reclaim the property in satisfaction of the debt, the borrower is held to the bankruptcy waiting periods and not the foreclosure waiting period. The Waiting Period after a Short Sale or Deed-in-Lieu of Foreclosure and Charge Off Accounts of Mortgage Debt are effective with applications dated on and after August 16, 2014 have been REDUCED to a 4 year waiting period, or 2 years if extenuating circumstances can be documented per guidelines (The 7 year waiting period for deed-in-lieu of foreclosure and short sale has been removed). In addition the previous LTV restrictions tied to different waiting periods for Deed-in-Lieu of Foreclosure, Short Sale or Mortgage Account Charge-Off have been removed.

NewLeaf Wholesale's Jumbo Fixed and ARM guidelines have been updated Product Summaries. Changes include information on payment shock, appraisal requirements, subordinate financing, residence converted to investment property, subordinate financing, rental income, and departing residence updates and changes.

Kinecta Federal Credit Union Wholesale posted updates to coincide with Fannie Mae updated Selling Guide. Additionally, Kinecta has simplified and improved its Lender Paid Mortgage Insurance (LPMI) credit score bands and adjustments for Conforming and Super-Conforming (Fixed and ARM) products.

AMX Wholesale requires following list of BROKER disclosures to be included on every loan, at submission, and must be dated within 3 days of the initial application: Written List of Service Providers, Intent to Proceed with Application, GFE, Servicing Disclosure Statement, MLOA (Mortgage Loan Disclosure Statement), Anti-Steering Disclosure (if applicable), Borrowers' Certification and Authorization, Fair Lending Notice, Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA), Privacy Policy Disclosure, Homeownership Counseling Disclosure, Appraisal Valuation Acknowledgement and Affiliated Business Arrangement Disclosure Statement Notice.

These investors are sure interested in yield, and with the supply of MBS dropping, demand beat out supply again and we had a little rally. "Little" is the operative word since the 10-year note was higher by 2+/32s (2.41%), while prices on 30-year FNMA 3s through 4.5s ranged from +1 tick to +2+ ticks, respectively. There was no real market-moving news although we did have the Fed's Beige Book which told us that barely half of the Districts reported stable or growing residential real estate activity related to the construction of new homes and sales of existing homes, demand for residential mortgages was less robust, and credit standards remain generally unchanged in most Districts.

Today we have a full menu of releases, including soup (August ADP Employment expected +220k), salad (Initial Jobless Claims expected +300k), pasta (July International Trade), steak (final Q2 Productivity/Unit Labor Costs), and chocolate cake (August ISM non-manufacturing PMI). We'll enjoy a fine wine (the ECB monetary policy decision) with an aperitif (the Treasury announcement of next week's auctions of 3- and 10-year notes and 30-year bonds). We had a 2.41% close on the 10-year, and in the wee hours of this morning we're roughly unchanged. 

Jobs and Opportunities 

Last month, I shared my theory that the market is ripe for rental properties to boom on the secondary market. In related news, Overland Park-based CapWest Mortgage, a division of Farmers Bank & Trust, recently announced the launch of its new Investor Pro product for all third party origination (TPO) clients. Features of the new product include: 30-year fixed rate, DTI based solely on cash flow of subject property, and unlimited number of financed properties a borrower can own. The product is available for purchase and refinance (rate term and cash-out) borrowers with a minimum FICO score of 620. (In addition to the Investor Pro product, CapWest is also launching its new Jumbo Express product which features a maximum loan amount of $1 Mil. This product is also available for all TPO clients.) To inquire about any of these programs, please contact Jake Stadler, Director of TPO for CapWest Mortgage.

Bayview/Lakeview continues to expand its mortgage business. Management is seeking to hire Correspondent lending business development directors for the Northwest, Upper Midwest, Texas (including several surrounding states) and the Southeast. Additionally, Bayview/Lakeview is seeking to hire a wholesale division leader and wholesale AEs in Los Angeles, the Bay Area (CA), Texas, Upper Midwest, Northeast and Southeast. "Bayview companies are well established in the mortgage investment and servicing industry with experience in managing mortgage assets since 1995. Bayview/Lakeview offers a broad product line, including non-QM portfolio loans along with conventional & government. If you are interested in joining a great company, please send your questions and resume to Jeff Lemieux." (Bayview Asset Management is minority-owned by affiliates of The Blackstone Group, L.P (NYSE: BX).)

There have been a number of postings here recently about Vendor Management. Compliance is inescapable and a careful read of the regulations make it fairly clear that compliance has to be more than just collecting some limited information and putting it in a file. Each lender is now required to have vendor management policies and procedures that support an active monitoring and management program. RML Advisors, headed by Regina M. Lowrie, former MBA Chair, has developed a Vendor Management Toolkit that enables lenders to quickly implement a compliant program. The Toolkit is risk-based so that the full vendor management efforts are focused on high and moderate risk vendors and a more simplistic approach is used for low risk vendors. The kit has a practical price and the firm will support either a Do-It-Yourself approach by the lender or will provide a turnkey solution. If you'd like more information please contact Regina Lowrie.

As Managing Editor of MortgageCompliance Magazine, Dr. Rick Roque in the September issue highlights an article written by Mitch Kider, Managing Partner of Weiner Brodsky Kider PC on the expanding role of the CFPB in their focus on non-depository mortgage lenders, especially as it pertains to expanding HMDA and other compliance tools; such moves will only increase compliance costs, legal fees, technology costs and regulatory scrutiny for mini-correspondent and full mortgage bankers. "This is why many origination groups - doing $2,000,000 per month or more are contacting me looking for more stable options," says Dr. Roque, "I speak to independent mortgage companies doing $10-$20M/mo from the west coast or smaller retail production groups doing $2M-$4M/month in the Midwest looking for competitive rates, service friendly underwriting and growth oriented marketing.  If loan officers and retail focused mortgage groups are looking for options in any of the 50 states, inquiries can be directed to Dr. Roque, or visiting MENLO's website to learn more.