Last month, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued an advisory opinion on the attempted enforcement of time-barred alleged debt collection rights as to second mortgage loans. It is a violation of the Fair Debt...more
If you thought we were finally done with indemnification litigation focused on residential mortgages originated before the financial crisis of 2007-2008, think again. Over the past year, the Federal Deposit Insurance...more
The recent surge in residential mortgage buyback demands by Freddie Mac, among others, has a number of industry analysts bracing for a new wave of indemnification claims and put-back attempts against correspondent lenders and...more
Last week, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York dealt a major blow to mortgage investors in two parallel actions pending for the past few years. The impact proved to be fatal to one of the actions,...more
2/18/2022
/ Article III ,
Breach of Contract ,
Breach of Duty ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Deutsche Bank ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Investors ,
Mortgages ,
Representations and Warranties ,
RMBS ,
Standing ,
Statute of Limitations ,
Time-Barred Claims
Cryptocurrency continues to gain traction as a means of payment for goods and services. It recently made its debut appearance in the mortgage industry, as the concept of a “crypto-mortgage” came to life. A Miami-based...more
2/9/2022
/ Bitcoin ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Currency ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Loans ,
Mortgage Loan Originators ,
Mortgages ,
Popular ,
Real Estate Investments ,
Real Estate Market ,
Real Estate Transactions
2021 provided some long-awaited new exit ramps off the long and winding road of business vs. business residential mortgage litigation stemming from the 2007–08 financial crisis. A multitude of recent settlements has left that...more
Millions of homeowners have signed up for a forbearance under the CARES Act, which gives homeowners with a federally-backed mortgage loan the right to obtain a temporary reduction or suspension of mortgage payments by way of...more
10/12/2021
/ CARES Act ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Failure To Disclose ,
Fair Lending ,
Fannie Mae ,
Forbearance Agreements ,
Foreclosure ,
Homeowners ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Mortgages ,
PNC ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Relief Measures ,
RESPA ,
Statutory Violations ,
Truth in Lending Act (TILA) ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices
At the beginning of his term, President Biden declared that his administration would make it a policy to eliminate “racial bias and other forms of discrimination in all states of home-buying and renting.”...more
10/5/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Community Reinvestment Act ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Disparate Impact ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Fair Lending ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
First-Lien ,
Housing Market ,
Mortgages ,
OCC ,
Racial Bias ,
Real Estate Transactions ,
Redlining ,
Section 1071 ,
Settlement Agreements
United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM), the nation’s largest wholesale mortgage lender, announced on March 4, 2021, that it would no longer do business with mortgage brokers who also worked with Rocket Mortgage (the online loan...more
5/6/2021
/ Anti-Competitive ,
Anti-Steering Rules ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Class Action ,
Competition ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Monopolization ,
Mortgage Lenders ,
Mortgages ,
Quicken Loans ,
Restraint of Trade ,
Sherman Act ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices ,
Wholesale
One would think that, as we approach 2021, litigation related to residential mortgage loans originated and sold well over a decade ago would be ancient history. Nevertheless, some suits filed years ago remain active, and,...more
Residential mortgage-backed securities offerings prior to 2008 gave rise to an abundance of litigation, some of which continues to this day. There may be reason to anticipate an increase in commercial mortgage-backed...more
On September 4, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) imposed a moratorium on residential foreclosures and evictions through the end of this year. The move quickly followed comments by the Trump administration that it would...more
9/23/2020
/ CARES Act ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Eviction ,
Fannie Mae ,
Federal Housing Administration (FHA) ,
Financial Distress ,
Foreclosure ,
Freddie Mac ,
HUD ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Landlords ,
Moratorium ,
Mortgages ,
Public Health ,
Relief Measures ,
Rent ,
Rental Property ,
Tenants
Governor DeSantis previously issued Executive Order 20-94 on April 2, 2020, suspending and tolling any statute providing for a mortgage foreclosure or residential eviction due to non-payment of rent that, after several...more
8/5/2020
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Eviction ,
Executive Orders ,
Financial Distress ,
Florida ,
Foreclosure ,
Governor DeSantis ,
Landlords ,
Moratorium ,
Mortgages ,
Relief Measures ,
Rent ,
Rental Property ,
State and Local Government ,
Tenants
A surge in repurchase claims against mortgage originators may be imminent as aggregators and servicers face nonpayment of debt obligations and liquidity shortfalls resulting from an increase in residential mortgage loans put...more
In the mortgage industry, as in many others, uncertainty abounds as companies attempt to adjust to the “current normal.” One thing residential mortgage loan originators and servicers believe is clear, however, is that they...more
As the world grapples with the health threat posed by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), the secondary threats of the coronavirus—including economic and financial consequences—have come into clear view....more
3/18/2020
/ China ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Bonds ,
Debt ,
Dow Jones ,
Economic Downturn ,
Federal Reserve ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Interest Rate Adjustments ,
Mortgages ,
Public Health ,
Recessions ,
Stock Prices
The years since the 2007–2008 financial crisis have been marked with milestone settlements of claims against the major mortgage “aggregators” (sometimes also known as “investors” in the mortgage purchasing context), who then...more
3/17/2020
/ Bank of New York (BNY) Mellon ,
Deutsche Bank ,
FHFA ,
Financial Markets ,
Freddie Mac ,
Investment ,
Investment Products ,
JPMorgan Chase ,
Lehman Brothers ,
Loans ,
Mortgages ,
RMBS ,
Securitization ,
Settlement ,
Wells Fargo
A recent decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit offers some vindication for mortgage companies still facing “repurchase” demands made by the banks to which they sold residential mortgages in the...more
11/19/2019
/ Appeals ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Financial Crisis ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Foreclosure ,
Loans ,
Mortgage Lenders ,
Mortgage Loan Originators ,
Mortgages ,
Repurchases ,
Summary Judgment
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) recently announced that it will allow the so-called “GSE patch” to expire in January 2021. This patch permits Government-Sponsored Entities Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to buy...more
8/20/2019
/ Ability-to-Repay ,
Bright-Line Rule ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Fannie Mae ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Freddie Mac ,
GSE ,
Housing Market ,
Loans ,
Mortgages
As originators and brokers of mortgage loans continue to get served with new lawsuits (or threatened with potential suits) related to loans that they conveyed to aggregators prior to the financial crisis of 2008, questions...more
2/13/2019
/ Appeals ,
Breach of Contract ,
Contract Disputes ,
Financial Crisis ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Indemnification ,
Misrepresentation ,
Mortgage Brokers ,
Mortgage Loan Aggregators ,
Mortgage Loan Originators ,
Mortgages ,
Real Estate Transactions ,
Repurchases ,
Statute of Limitations
Over the last several years, we have posted several times about whether the statute of limitations bars remedies against lenders (and sometimes sponsors and trustees) of residential mortgages. ...more
Ten years after the financial crisis, mortgage companies and regional/local banks are still getting hit with new breach of contract and indemnification claims related to loans sold before the crisis....more
4/30/2018
/ Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Demand Letter ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Indemnification ,
Institutional Investors ,
JPMorgan Chase ,
Mortgages ,
RMBS ,
Securities Fraud ,
Settlement
On March 8, the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York concluded a lengthy “claims estimation” trial to determine the appropriate final settlement price for a resolution of lawsuits filed on behalf of...more
Here is a situation that comes up quite a bit in the world of business contracts containing indemnification provisions, and in the insurance industry as well. First, a party (“Party A”) gets sued, or threatened with a suit,...more
Thousands of mortgage lenders across the country either recently received, or will soon be receiving, this document from Lehman Brothers Holdings, Inc. (LBHI). It is a notice of a motion to approve a proposed settlement of...more
5/24/2017
/ Banking Sector ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Fannie Mae ,
Freddie Mac ,
Indemnification ,
Lehman Brothers ,
Mortgage Lenders ,
Mortgages ,
Popular ,
Repurchases ,
RMBS ,
Settlement Offer