Mortgage Lending

HUD reviving efforts to reform rules on mortgage lending Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson is reviving efforts to reform mortgage-lending rules to make loan costs more transparent. The agency plans to hold six meetings from July 14 to Aug. 18 seeking public and industry comments on reforms to a 30-year-old consumer-protection law known as Respa, the Real Estate Settlement and Procedures Act, Jackson said. Americans spend $55 billion on closing costs a year, according to a HUD statement.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has lifted a cease and desist order that 1st Mariner Bank has operated under since April 2009, the bank announced Monday. The order required 1st Mariner to strengthen its fair lending practices because the FDIC suspected 1st Mariner of discriminating against Hispanic, black and female mortgage borrowers. The bank charged some of these borrowers more than "similarly-situated" white and male borrowers in 2005, 2006 and 2007, the regulator said.

The American banking industry has long been accused of discriminating against blacks in home mortgage lending, a perception reinforced by new Federal Reserve Board data which the Fed itself warns may be inconclusive. Bankers will protest, perhaps protest too much, but the end result may yet serve a useful social purpose.Historically, there can be no doubt that African Americans have faced unfair obstacles in their upward quest to become homeowners. Presently there can be no denying that discrimination still exists and, in the words of a Fed official, it is "very worrisome."

Richard Cordray, the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, is expected to announce the issuance of a pioneering federal rule Thursday that is intended to help prevent a repeat of the risky mortgage lending that led to the recent housing boom and bust. He is scheduled to declare the adoption of the final "ability-to-repay" rule in remarks prior to a town hall meeting about mortgage policy at Westminster Hall in downtown Baltimore. The rule is set to take effect one year from Thursday.

CHICAGO -- The mortgage lending industry, buffeted by tight credit and skittish homebuyers, is facing an uncertain future as it waits for the economy to sort itself out."Our industry -- in fact, the entire real estate finance industry -- is enduring one of the most difficult times in our history," said Warren Lasko, executive vice president of the Mortgage Bankers Association of America.More than 5,000 members of the group were here last week for the annual convention.Though the theme of the session was "Shaping Tomorrow," many of those in attendance were thinking more of the past, as outgoing president Ronnie J. Wynn did in comparing the current state of the housing industry to the "darkest days of World War II."

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two mortgage lending giants that hold or guarantee about half of the nation's $12 trillion mortgage market, took a beating on Wall Street last week, raising fears of the biggest financial crisis yet for the nation's battered housing market. That danger demands continuing short-term oversight by regulators to ensure the stability of these pivotal financial institutions and long-term reforms to reduce their influence. The companies' stock values plummeted after questions were raised about their financial stability.

In what some experts say is another sign that mortgage lending and real estate sales just don't mix, Century 21 Real Estate Corp. has quietly decided to fold its mortgage operations.The nation's biggest real estate network started the Century 21 Mortgage Corp. in the mid-1980s, hoping to bolster profits by making loans to consumers who purchased homes through the company's 600,000-plus real estate agents.It was, company officials said at the time, the "ultimate in one-stop shopping" -- you would buy a house from a Century 21 agent and also get a loan from its mortgage company.

CHICAGO -- If the banking industry had a red "alert" button, it was pushed with a study by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston that showed racial discrimination is a fact of life in home mortgage lending.The Boston bank's one-year investigation, released late last month, concludes that, all other factors being equal, black and Hispanic mortgage applicants are roughly 60 percent more likely than whites to be denied loans.The study, anticipated by the nation's banks, was the second of a one-two punch to an industry that has long denied that it discriminates.

U.S. mortgage lending rose to a record $1.06 trillion in the third quarter as people rushed to take advantage of the lowest interest rates since Dwight Eisenhower occupied the White House. For the first time, the dollar value of purchased and refinanced home loans rose above $1 trillion in a quarter, Douglas Duncan, chief economist for Washington-based Mortgage Bankers Association, said Thursday. The amount was a 9 percent gain from the $975 billion registered in the second quarter. A record $722.

The head of a financing company planning to acquire Towson-based AmericasBank Corp. and inject the bank with more than $35 million in cash and assets said Tuesday that he sees a growing need for community banks in Maryland. Jack Dwyer, owner of Baltimore-based Capital Funding Group, said the next step for his company is to become a bank. Dwyer formed Capital Funding Bancorp Inc. this year and he announced Tuesday the acquisition of AmericasBank, a small Maryland bank hit hard by mortgage-lending losses last year.

The head of a financing company planning to acquire Towson-based AmericasBank Corp. and inject the bank with more than $35 million in cash and assets said Tuesday that he sees a growing need for community banks in Maryland. Jack Dwyer, owner of Baltimore-based Capital Funding Group, said the next step for his company is to become a bank. Dwyer formed Capital Funding Bancorp Inc. this year and he announced Tuesday the acquisition of AmericasBank, a small Maryland bank hit hard by mortgage-lending losses last year.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two mortgage lending giants that hold or guarantee about half of the nation's $12 trillion mortgage market, took a beating on Wall Street last week, raising fears of the biggest financial crisis yet for the nation's battered housing market. That danger demands continuing short-term oversight by regulators to ensure the stability of these pivotal financial institutions and long-term reforms to reduce their influence. The companies' stock values plummeted after questions were raised about their financial stability.

Towson-based AmericasBank Corp. said yesterday that it has dismissed its president and chief executive officer, Mark H. Anders, in the wake of recent losses at the bank stemming from turmoil in the mortgage lending business. The company, parent of commercial bank AmericasBank, appointed A. Gary Rever as acting chief executive of the bank, which operates the Towson Community Bank in Towson and Annapolis Community Bank in Annapolis. Rever has served as AmericasBank's chief financial officer since August 2003.

There are uncountable culprits and dupes in the extraordinary chain of events that finished Bear Stearns, Wall Street's fifth-largest investment bank. But at its heart the crisis is a failure of regulation. If not for the Federal Reserve's and the Bush administration's refusal to stop crazy mortgage lending, former Bear boss James E. Cayne would still be chewing cigars in his Manhattan office, counting his money and complaining about regulators. And the country wouldn't be headed toward what might be the worst recession in decades.

WASHINGTON -- A presidential working group issued a broad set of proposals yesterday to correct weaknesses in the way homes are financed so that the problems now crippling the nation's housing sector won't recur. The President's Working Group on Financial Markets recommended changes in virtually every area of mortgage finance. It called for tougher state and federal regulation of mortgage lending and mortgage brokers. It also supported creating a national licensing standard for anyone who originates mortgages.

Maryland's employment market performed relatively well last month at a time of economic instability, bucking the national trend by adding jobs and cutting unemployment. The jobless rate fell to 3.7 percent, from 4 percent in July, the U.S. Labor Department said yesterday. That's significantly lower than the national rate, which remained at 4.6 percent last month. Employment grew last month by about 3,300 jobs, according to preliminary estimates adjusted for seasonal variations. Nationally, employers cut 4,000 jobs - the first drop in four years, when the country was still suffering from the effects of the 2001 recession.

The Mortgage Bankers Association is boosting its 2004 lending volume forecast by 25 percent, to $2.5 trillion, saying mortgage rates will fall to the lowest levels since the 1950s. The annual average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage is likely to drop to 5.6 percent from a record low of 5.8 percent last year, the Washington-based group said in a statement last week. A month ago, the Mortgage Bankers Association had called for a 6 percent fixed rate and $2 trillion in borrowing. Mortgage lending will rise as cheaper borrowing costs spur more people to refinance their loans, said the group's chief economist, Doug Duncan.

Provident places mortgage lending programs on webMortgage lending programs offered by Provident Mortgage Corp. are now available on the Mid-Atlantic Real Estate Information Technologies web site at http: //www.marit.com.MARIT's web site contains information and photographs on roughly 14,000 homes in central Maryland. After finding a home, browsers can get information on mortgages, interest rates, prequalification and refinancing by clicking on Provident's name in the service directory.Provident Mortgage Corp.

Citing continuing restructuring costs and big losses from its mortgage lending business, General Motors Corp. reported yesterday a 90 percent plunge in first-quarter earnings. The company lost its long-standing place as the world's largest automaker during the quarter, as Japan's Toyota Motor Corp. edged past GM in global sales for the first time. The rough quarter was marked by continued but narrowing losses from GM's crucial North American automotive operations, as demand and production declined for its cars and trucks.

Banks ease standards on mortgage lending for 1st time in 11 years Banks, faced with rising mortgage competition as home sales advance, have eased lending standards for the first time in 11 years. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's annual survey of underwriting surveyed the largest 71 institutions, whose $2.9 trillion of loans represent 90 percent of outstanding national bank loans. The agency's survey said banks remain sound, even as it urged lenders to be more cautious in lending in the future.