Loan Think

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's indirect response to Quicken Loans' Super Bowl 50 commercial implicitly warns consumers to be wary of technology, which points to a bigger problem: does the CFPB even know what it wants from the mortgage industry?

Housing policy focused on government guarantees and the 30-year mortgage hasn't done much to help low- and middle-income homeowners build wealth.

After years of refi-fueled origination volume, lenders have their hopes pegged to a resurgent purchase market in 2016 and beyond. But it raises an important question: will strategic default rear its head again in the next downturn?

The near future may find more banks ceasing to originate residential mortgages in an effort to stop the slide in stock prices.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency's Duty-to-Serve rule must include a substantive commitment from the government-sponsored enterprises to purchase chattel loans.

By implementing a platform designed specifically to support quality control, lenders can continuously prepare for an audit while simultaneously executing on everyday loan quality tasks.

In the absence of congressional action on housing finance reform, here is what the Federal Housing Finance Agency should do sooner rather than later.

The mortgage industry can better manage disparate regulatory requirements with a comprehensive approach that streamlines compliance.

Lenders must treat self-service technology as a tool that facilitates, rather than defines, the mortgage borrowing experience.

Brokers and small lenders are being crushed under the weight of heavy regulation, leaving loan officers little choice but to shoulder the burden themselves — or move to an organization that can handle the regulatory requirements.