By KIMBERLEY HAAS Leaders at Wells Fargo announced this week that they are reducing their home lending footprint and some people are saying it may be big news in the lending space, but will likely not make much of a difference to the average consumer. It was announced Tuesday that the company, formerly the nation’s largest mortgage lender, is exiting the correspondent lending channel and shrinking its mortgage servicing portfolio. Plans are to focus on serving bank customers and members of minority communities. Lawrence White, a professor of economics at the New York University Leonard N. Stern School of Business, sat down with the Mortgage Note to talk about the news on Wednesday. White said he hopes the move by leaders at…
Editor’s Note: This article was written by a contributor and contains the individual’s views, opinions, or personal experiences. Last week, we announced the merger of the Community Mortgage Lenders of America and theCommunity Home Lenders Association under a renamed Community Home Lenders of America (CHLA). To date, both organizations have represented a similar profile of members and have historically taken similar policy positions. After extended discussion, we both concluded that combining CMLA and CHLA would mean more members, more financial resources, and more combined staff. This would enhance our ability to influence mortgage policies in Washington and explain the key role community lenders and in particular smaller independent mortgage banks (IMBs)—play in mortgage lending. Policy fights in Washington are not…
The Community Home Lenders Association (CHLA) sent a letter to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) commenting on its proposed increases in financial requirements for Fannie and Freddie. In February, the FHFA proposed updated standards that mortgage lenders would have to meet in order to sell loans to or service loans on behalf of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The standards were set in 2015 and have remained with little modification since then. The update is meant to strengthen required capital and liquidity for seller/servicers with different business models, as well as provide for more transparency and consistency, “by incorporating cost and risk assumptions that were not previously considered and re-evaluating modeling assumptions and inputs, given changes in the servicing…
In its budget proposal this week, the Biden Administration allotted a 34% budget increase for the Department of Housing and Urban Development of $11.6 billion over the fiscal year of 2022. This proposed budget includes $32 billion for the Housing Choice Voucher Program and almost $2 billion for the HOME Investment Partnership, aimed at affordable housing strategies. The industry has so far applauded the budget for its investments in housing as affordability dwindles and many Americans struggle to find housing within their budget. “A president’s budget is a wish list of policy goals and ambitions,” Shannon McGahn, the National Association of Realtor’s chief advocacy officer, said. “Many changes will be made to this plan, but it is good news that…
