Finance

Mortgage industry groups are calling for the creation of a strong safe harbor clause that will shield lenders from litigation if they originate loans that comply with ‘Qualified Mortgage’ underwriting standards.

As Washington's banking-policy community was focused on the first anniversary of the Dodd-Frank Act, one important player in the law's passage was noticeably absent.

National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) filed another suit last week against Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) over MBS sold to WesCorp Federal Credit Union, the one-time $34 billion corporate that failed in 2009.

Cohen & Steers, an asset manager specializing in real estate, predicts that U.S. REITs will boost dividends by 10% a year for the next five years.The sunny outlook, which cites a recovery in cash flows, comes in spite of the continued woes of many segments of the U.S. housing markets and the sluggish economic recovery.

Consumer ABS is well-positioned to maintain ratings stability in the wake of a potential double-dip recession, according to a new Fitch Ratings report.

Toyota Motor Credit Corp. will be issuing five classes of notes backed by Toyota or Lexus passenger car, minivan, light-duty truck or sport utility vehicle leases and related assets.

Mortgage, housing, and even local politicians are stepping up pressure on congressional appropriators to extend the maximum $729,750 loan limit on government-backed loans for another year, fearing that a failure to act will damage already stressed real estate markets.

Whole Loan Capital is auctioning off a $553 million portfolio of GSE and bank residential servicing rights.

The CFPB has published with the Federal Register for public comment an interim final rule establishing Regulation D or the Alternative Mortgage Transaction Parity.

Short sale timelines and completions are improving, but servicing executives also know their industry can have better results in the government-backed Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives program, according to panelists at this week’s Best Practices in Loss Mitigation Conference in Dallas, sponsored by National Mortgage News.

Deer Park Road Corp., a distressed mortgage and ABS fixed-income securities manager, has strengthened its portfolio management team as the firm’s assets continue to grow, it announced in a July 20 statement.

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) is developing an index of "healing housing markets" in an attempt to offset the negative press that casts a pall over the entire sector whenever national price statistics are released.

It appears that the sacred cow known as the mortgage interest deduction (MID) is on the table as the White House and Congress grapple on a budget deal to lift the federal debt ceiling.

The American Securitization Forum (ASF) filed its comment letter on proposed rulemaking as required under the Dodd-Frank Act for qualified mortgages (QMs) with the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (FRB).

Fitch Ratings said in a report today that improved fundamentals in the in the U.S. commercial real estate (CRE) sector has led to a greater percentage of stable outlooks for investment grade CMBS deals.

JPMorgan Chase's net exposure to the sovereign debt of financially troubled countries is just $15 billion. At Goldman Sachs it's a paltry $1.5 billion. Bank of America's is under $17 billion and Citigroup has $22 billion.

Six Federal Home Loan banks have launched a salvo against Bank of America Corp.'s proposed $8.5 billion mortgage bondholder settlement, suggesting the payout may need to be triple that amount.

Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., is demanding the release of federal reviews of 14 banks that have agreed to fix their foreclosure processes and reimburse homeowners for any harm caused.

Fitch Ratings released unsolicited comment today that stated that investment grade ratings assigned to the most junior class of the City Center Trust 2011 CCHP CMBS would most probably warrant no more than a ‘BBsf’ rating. The conclusion is based on the rating agency's current analysis of hotel properties.

It was essentially "status quo" in terms of the mortgage rates in the week ending July 21.