TRID arrives tomorrow, put into business practice on Monday. And the industry wonders if, since under the Dodd-Frank financial reform law the CFPB can impose civil money penalties of $5,000 per day per violation, $25,000 per day for reckless violations, and $1 million per day for knowing violations, companies and individuals should be terrified of losing their savings or their company's balance sheets. What will lenders be responsible for right out of the gate? And what about the myriad of rules that force lenders to do things that are against rules set out by other regulators? Are we having fun yet?

The CFPB sent a communication in direct response to the MBA's and industry stakeholders' request for a definition of the Good-Faith Compliance Standard, in regards to the Know Before You Owe TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure Rule. In this written communication the CFPB stated that when it comes to the Good-Faith Compliance Standard, regulators will consider institutions' implementation plans, including updates to policies and procedures, efforts to train staff, and how technical and other implementation problems are handled during the initial transition. The MBA reports that, "These standards closely track the recommendation by MBA in our July 7^th letter to Director Cordray."

But others believe that this is short of what the CFPB needed to say. For any lenders that can't issue the new docs on Monday, despite knowing this date was coming all year, the loans are not eligible for sale to GSEs and therefore many leading correspondent investors. Lenders should indeed be worried about the ramifications of this.

And even if Richard Cordray puts in some type of leniency period, that won't stop attorneys interested in class action lawsuits from pursuing legal action against lenders that don't adhere to TRID changes from the start. One would hope that the CFPB considers actions that would head off increasing the legal liabilities of the residential lending industry which is already spending millions of dollars around the nation on legal fees.

The Association of Mortgage Professionals renewed its call for passage of H.R. 3192 legislation directing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to provide for a "hold harmless" period until the end of 2015 for companies that make a good-faith effort to comply with the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosures (TRID). "While we're encouraged by assurances made by CFPB Director Cordray to the House Financial Services Committee that there won't be punitive actions taken against companies that make a good-faith effort to comply with TRID," said Rocke Andrews, President-Elect of NAMB, "we are still hopeful that Congress will take action to protect consumers and reduce disruption of the real estate market."

In banking news, we continue to lose small community banks. As of the end of 2014 there were 5,051 commercial banks with assets of $1 billion or less. This compares to 5,538 at the end of 2012, or a net decline of 487 banks (about 9% during that period). By asset size, the 2 year change for banks with assets of less than $100mm was a decline of 16% vs. banks with assets $100mm to $1B, which only declined 5%.

Speaking of which, in the last week or so we've learned that the owner of Weststar Mortgage (NM) will acquire Goldwater Bank ($103mm, AZ). Alerus Financial ($1.6B, ND) will acquire Beacon Bank ($352mm, MN) for about $56mm. In Illinois First Midwest Bank ($9.7B) will acquire The Peoples' Bank of Arlington Heights ($108mm). Multibank holding company Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. ($8.5B, NE) will acquire Woodhaven National Bank ($461mm, TX). HomeStreet Bank ($4.8B, WA) headed south and will acquire Orange County Business Bank ($200mm, CA) for $5.5mm in cash and $49.8mm in stock. Park Sterling Corporation of Charlotte, NC has agreed to acquire First Capital Bancorp, Inc. (Glen Allen, VA). And Ameris Bancorp (Moultrie, GA) has agreed to acquire Jacksonville Bancorp, Inc. (Jacksonville, FL).

And besides M&A banks are also changing. Great Southern Bank ($4.1B, MO) said it will consolidate 16 branches into other locations. Ameris Bancorp ($5.2B, GA) announced it will close 10 of its 103 branches and consolidate them in a move to reduce annual operating expenses by around $5 billion. Fifth Third Bancorp ($139B, OH) has agreed to sell 12 branches with almost $300 million in deposits around St. Louis to Great Southern Bancorp ($4.1B, MO).

Earlier in the week the commentary noted the Asian Real Estate Association of America (AREAA) entering into a two-year exclusive partnership with Radian Guaranty Inc. But what else is going on in MI Land?

U.S. Mortgage Insurers (USMI) named Lindsey Johnson as USMI's President and Executive Director.  Johnson, a former senior member of the Senate Banking Committee staff, is currently a Director on PwC's public policy team.

NMIH noted that President Jay Sherwood will be leaving the company in January. Mr. Sherwood was a co-founder of NMIH, and most analysts think that the decision to move appears to reflect the fact that the company has successfully transitioned from a start-up to a more mature company. Brad Shuster will remain as chairman and CEO.

If you believe that one indicator of the health of the business can be found in MI stats, MGIC has published its monthly operating statistics for August reporting that new notices declined by 16.1 percent YoY and declined 5.5 percent MoM. Cures of 6,212 were up 15 percent MoM compared to a 4.1 percent decrease in July. The cure ratio also rose to 99.5 percent from 81.4 percent in July. The ending delinquent inventory of 64,805 was down 2 percent MoM and declined 22.6 percent YoY. Paid claims dropped 8.2 percent MoM and net rescissions and denials dropped to 67 from 71 a month prior. New insurance written equaled $4 billion in August, dropping from $4.5 billion in July.

As a reminder late in 2014 Congress passed a one year extension of vital homeowner tax relief that included the tax-deductible treatment of mortgage insurance premiums for low and moderate income borrowers, after it had expired at the end of 2013. Although things are in limbo USMI believes that the ability of borrowers to deduct MI premiums from federal income taxes should be made permanent.

Arch MI has issued the summer 2015 edition of the Housing and Mortgage Market Review. The index has identified that the average risk of home price declines over the next two years remains low, as 82 percent of states have an index of less than or equal to 8 percent. However, the five states at greatest risk of home price declines include North Dakota, Texas, Louisiana, Alaska and Oklahoma mainly due to their economic dependence on oil and gas. The report also provides national unemployment and housing data.

And as a reminder the American Bankers Association, after a comprehensive due-diligence process, endorsed the mortgage insurance solutions of Arch Mortgage Insurance Company. Details are available, ABA endorsement of ARCH MI press release.

Essent Guaranty, Inc. announced an enhancement to its integration on Ellie Mae's Encompass all-in-one mortgage management solution. As part of the integration, Essent's customers can now submit non-delegated loans along with documents through a seamless document upload. "...allows for unique functionality for lenders to time when submitting non-delegated files for underwriting. Lenders utilizing Ellie Mae's Encompass LOS no longer have to upload documents 1 at a time. Multiple documents can be sent while continuing to work on other loans during the upload process.  Essent is the only Mortgage Insurer that has this unique functionality currently in place with Ellie Mae Encompass for non-delegated submissions." Details are available in Essent's press release.

Turning to the bond markets things were pretty quiet Thursday, and the possibility that traders will be scooting out early today after the unemployment data and before the storm intensifies. Yesterday we learned that the ISM Manufacturing Index missed estimates but that construction spending for August beat expectations but was accompanied by a downward revision to the July number. Neither was really enough to do much to rates and the 10-year closed at a yield of 2.04%.

Later we'll have Factory Orders, but today we've had all the September employment data. Nonfarm Payrolls were up only 142k, with major downward revisions to July and August. Average Hourly Earnings were -.1%, and the headline unemployment rate was unchanged at 5.1%. The weak numbers call into question a 2015 Fed rate increase, and the 10-year yield is down to 1.95% and agency MBS prices are better by .50.

Jobs and Announcements

In job news Renew Lending is looking to add two Regional Directors to be based in Albuquerque, NM and the other based in Scottsdale, AZ to recruit, add & expand both its retail and its partner branch network. "Our company is rapidly growing and offers an excellent compensation package including stock options for originators. Renew Lending has introduced a residential NON-Qualified Mortgage program up to $5 million in CA, NV, AZ, CO, NM and TX at very competitive interest rates for borrowers who need alternative underwriting to traditional FNMA guidelines. We offer unlimited cash out, underwriting using bank statements and asset depletion; investment properties & foreign nationals are okay and unseasoned bankruptcy or short sales are considered; full program details available upon request." Confidential inquiries and resumes should be sent to CEO Joe Cunningham (916.939.2726).

Pacific Union Financial, LLC continues to grow and expand its Distributed Retail Channel with the opening of several new branch facilities across the country. The most recent teams on-boarded in Canyon Lake (CA), Folsom (CA) and Atlanta (GA). "Having experienced phenomenal growth over 16 consecutive months, we continue to welcome top retail talent as we expand our footprint in strategic regions across the country," said Rick Skogg, President and CEO of Pacific Union Financial, LLC. "As part of our retail initiative, we are proud to announce the hiring of Fobby Naghmi as VP, Regional Manager in the mid-Atlantic and Cheryl Halverson as VP, Regional Retail Sales in Northern California," said Mr. Skogg. "Both individuals come to Pacific Union with great backgrounds and are true builders of quality retail sales talent." Want to make a move and become part of an exciting and productive team? To apply or inquire how you can join our team, email careers@loanpacific .com.

And VITEK Mortgage Group is growing in the Pacific Northwest and seeking high-performing branches to grow with us!  "VITEK is a purchase-focused retail mortgage bank; we've been in business for more than 28 years and know what it takes to succeed in this ever-evolving industry. We are built to be nimble, yet we have a sophisticated delivery system and support structure. Local leadership and operations, as well as accessible decision-makers truly set us apart from the competition! We are delegated with Fannie, Freddie, and Ginnie, have a large servicing portfolio, and have a full scope of loan products available. If this sounds good to you, and you have a team of solid producers generating at least $5M/month in volume, contact George Charles for confidential consideration.

McLean Mortgage Corporation has announced it has hired industry veteran Greg Crocker as CFO of the company.  Greg is a native of Central Florida and a graduate of the University of Central Florida.  "During his career in the mortgage industry of almost two decades, Greg has served as CFO and COO for several major companies, including Taylor, Bean and Whitaker, Pinnacle Financial and Aurora Financial Group." Is that TBW stint really something to crow about?

A correction: yesterday the commentary mentioned that, "As readers probably recall earlier this month Guaranteed Rate added 75 former Discover Home Loans employees as well as the Irvine, Calif., call center facility where they worked." Guaranteed Rate actually added 75 former Discover Home Loans loan officers, and 200 employees total.

Organizers for the AnnieMac Sales Summit are overwhelmed at the response they've received so far. More than 400 people have already signed on - which perhaps should be no surprise, in light of the fact that top industry professionals including Rick Ruby, Steve Grossman, Craig Strent, Brent Hicks, and Gibran Nicholas will be revealing their most effective business strategies. Space is limited, so reserve your spot now: Apply what you learn. Get inspired. Grow your business. It's all waiting for you at the AnnieMac Sales Summit - register here.