Mon, Feb 8 2021, 9:27 AM
A Pennsylvania man is suing Smart Water for not making him smart, and here, in this Commentary, I’d like to formally announce my lawsuit against Thin ...
Tue, Feb 2 2021, 11:18 AM
The Urban Institute (UI) has looked at a final mortgage rule issued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in late 2020 which would provid...
Mon, Feb 1 2021, 11:01 AM
January’s already in the rearview mirror and our industry is keeping an eye on all kinds of things. Like silent movies moving into “the Talkies” in 19...
Tue, Jan 19 2021, 11:03 AM
Sometimes running a mortgage compliance department can seem like this short clip Indiana’s Carol K. sent along. Yet there is value in compliance, and ...
Thu, Dec 31 2020, 11:03 AM
I still don’t know what I’m wearing to the living room on New Year’s Eve. Heck, I may not even go. Wouldn’t it be nice to be on a cruise? Ever heard o...
Wed, Oct 21 2020, 9:13 AM
Want some guidance? “If you get a loan at a bank, you’ll be paying it back for 30 years. If you rob a bank, you’ll be out in 10 years. Follow me for m...
Fri, Oct 9 2020, 8:51 AM
Eddie Van Halen advised, “You only have twelve notes. Do what you want with them.” Twelve is probably the number of undecided voters in the U.S. at th...
Fri, Sep 4 2020, 9:34 AM
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has been on a two-month enforcement tear aimed at mortgage lenders employing deceptive practices in th...
Thu, Aug 20 2020, 9:06 AM
In these times that lenders describe as busy, profitable, and overheated, capital markets personnel are focused on margin & capacity management, staff...
Wed, Aug 19 2020, 9:58 AM
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is proposing a new category of qualified mortgage (QM) which it says is intended to "encourage innovat...
Thu, Jul 16 2020, 8:58 AM
I was on the phone yesterday with my psychic who told me, “You will live a long and healthy life if you abstain from anything that brings you joy.” Ok...
Mon, Jul 6 2020, 9:43 AM
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau) today issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) that would amend Regulation Z of the Truth-in-Le...
Tue, Jun 30 2020, 8:50 AM
Some days you don’t learn much, other days you learn a lot (skip the ad). We’ve learned that COVID is driving our economy, not fundamental economic ne...
Mon, Jun 29 2020, 1:38 PM
The Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision along partisan lines, took a chunk out of the intentions the Dodd-Frank Act had for the Consumer Financial Protec...
Tue, Jun 23 2020, 10:21 AM
With its so-called GSE Patch set to expire on January 10, 2021 (unless by some miracle the conservatorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the GSEs) en...
Tue, Jun 23 2020, 9:15 AM
There are all kinds of things that I don’t, or didn’t, know. For example, the other day I learned that when dogs lap water, they’re actually scooping ...
Wed, Jun 17 2020, 4:36 PM
There has apparently been considerable confusion regarding servicer obligations to report to credit agencies regarding loans in forbearance. The origi...
Wed, Jun 17 2020, 8:52 AM
Yesterday afternoon I was doing my quarterly ten minutes of YouTube yoga (“Align those internal organs! “The journey is the reward!”) and my mind wand...
Fri, Jun 5 2020, 2:47 PM
A joint release from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the Conference of State Bank Supervisors cautions mortgage servicers about th...
Thu, Mar 26 2020, 12:50 PM
Flexibility seems to be the keyword as government agencies try to adjust to a lot of new realities. The Federal Housing Finance agency has already emp...
Fri, Apr 17 2020, 9:10 AM
While in captivity, watching the time, and waiting for release , can seem like forever. We’re always waiting for something, whether it is the CFPB rol...
Wed, Apr 15 2020, 1:15 PM
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) have made arrangements to share information during the C...
Thu, Feb 27 2020, 8:57 AM
I was telling my cat Myrtle that U.S. lenders are continuing to bask in the glow of a great 2019 and a start to 2020 (with March and April now looking...
Tue, Nov 26 2019, 8:54 AM
“Rob, with the announcement a while back that Quicken Loans inked a mortgage deal with Charles Schwab, and now with Schwab buying TD Ameritrade, do yo...
Mon, Nov 18 2019, 10:12 AM
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has issued an Interpretive Rule for one type of loan originator licensing. The Secure and Fair Enforce...
Tue, Oct 22 2019, 4:37 PM
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case challenging the constitutionality of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). The case "Seila Law ...
Mon, Aug 5 2019, 8:39 AM
Blame mental health. Blame gun control. Blame “the system” or background check procedures. There’s plenty of blame to go around when it comes to the t...
Fri, Jul 26 2019, 11:44 AM
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) regarding the expiration of the so-called G...
Thu, Jun 6 2019, 10:31 AM
Here on the 75th anniversary of D-Day, recall that, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” One could easily follow that with...
Tue, May 28 2019, 9:28 AM
First off, best wishes to Quicken Loans’ owner Dan Gilbert who was hospitalized Sunday after experiencing stroke-like symptoms. As the lending industr...
Thu, May 23 2019, 8:16 AM
The Urban Institute (UI) is urging the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to rethink its plans for Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) report...
Mon, Apr 29 2019, 9:08 AM
When I was a kid in California, as with my parents and their parents, and their parents, flowers and fruits had seasons. Roses bloomed in the spring. ...
Fri, Jan 11 2019, 1:42 PM
The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act) contains a requirement that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (C...
Mon, Jul 9 2018, 8:52 AM
As a loan officer, how would you like the borrower’s first contact to be with your CEO or head of mortgage? A Wells borrower is greeted by Michael DeV...
Tue, Jun 19 2018, 11:27 AM
The White House announced on Monday the nomination of Kathy Kraninger as head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to replace acting dir...
Fri, Apr 27 2018, 11:10 AM
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has announced a technical change to its October 2015 "Know Before You Owe" mortgage disclosure rule. T...
Tue, Apr 3 2018, 1:01 PM
The Acting Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) presented the Bureaus semi-annual report to Congress on Monday. The report, whi...
Thu, Feb 1 2018, 10:52 AM
There was a partial win for the plaintiff in there somewhere, but the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals reversed its earlier decision on W...
Thu, Feb 1 2018, 9:14 AM
Whale oil manufacturers… switchboard operators… real estate agents? “Knock does everything a traditional real estate agent does and so much more.” Lau...
Thu, Jan 25 2018, 9:13 AM
Yes, rates have gone up, but residential applications have been up for three straight weeks. There is little denying that employment, housing, and the...
Fri, Dec 22 2017, 9:16 AM
What's age got to do with anything? In the new issue of STRATMOR Group's Insights report, Sr. Partner Jim Cameron debunks several of myths many lender...
Mon, Nov 27 2017, 9:10 AM
The darkest, blackest material known to man? Vantablack . Don't be the last to paint your car with it. Speaking of looking into voids, who is in charg...
Mon, Nov 20 2017, 9:14 AM
Thanksgiving week already! Let’s temporarily shift from residential lending to economics. According to the SalaryforPilot website, Air Force pilots ea...
Thu, Nov 16 2017, 9:50 AM
Richard Cordray, first Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), will leave the agency at the end of the month. Cordray announced h...
Tue, Oct 31 2017, 9:23 AM
A new tool to measure the nation's largest consumer credit market came on-line this week. The new Mortgage Performance Trends tool, launched by the Co...
Fri, Sep 15 2017, 11:11 AM
The Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPB) does not provide guidance to the financial institutions it regulates. Instead it has evolved into a re...
Fri, Aug 25 2017, 10:54 AM
In July, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) said it was rethinking implementation of its rules changing reporting requirements for the Ho...
Fri, Aug 25 2017, 10:51 AM
My boss arrived at work in a brand-new Lamborghini. I said, "Wow, that's an amazing car!” He replied, "If you work hard, put all your hours in, and st...
Mon, Jul 24 2017, 9:10 AM
What should lenders and loan officers be concerned about? What’s threatening their livelihood, besides all cash buyers, venture capital firms buying h...
Fri, Jul 14 2017, 3:47 PM
Community banks and credit unions may soon be subject to new guidelines that will require them to report information on home equity lines of credit, d...
