Good afternoon —
On a call with loan officers this morning I gave an overview of the news trends we're seeing, including the first-time homeowner bill(s) in Congress, lumber prices, what's being done (or not) about the inventory shortage, etc. They asked if there was anything I wanted to add. Just this: the CFPB is not messing around.
What was a sleepy backwater of a beat during the Trump administration has come roaring back since January. It seems like we're reporting on CFPB actions several times a week now, and the Bureau has been very clear that it is not only able, but very willing to take proactive steps to protect consumers.
Right on cue, the CFPB released its complaint report for April today, and it's not pretty.
"According to the report, in March 2021, consumers submitted more mortgage complaints to the CFPB than in any month since April 2018. Within those complaints, mentions of forbearance and related terms reached their highest monthly average since March and April of 2020, while the number of borrowers who reported struggling to make payments also rose."
That's bad news for servicers, who have already been warned by the CFPB that it is keeping a close eye on them as borrowers exit forbearance. In fact, CFPB Acting Director Dave Uejio made a point to reiterate that warning today.
"The CFPB will continue to seek and actively respond to developments in the market, doing everything in our power to help families stay in their homes," Uejio said. "As we warned mortgage servicers last month, unprepared is unacceptable."
Servicers may be the ones in the crosshairs right now. But everyone involved in the mortgage process should be paying attention.
Until tomorrow —
Sarah Wheeler
HousingWire Editor in Chief
P.S. I am moderating a really interesting panel at the Mortgage Industry Pandemic Summit 2.0 on Thursday, hosted by Altisource, called The Economists' Magic 8 Ball: What to Expect the Rest of this Year. Join me to hear what Mike Fratantoni of MBA, Rick Sharga of RealtyTrac, Mark Vitner of Wells Fargo Securities, and Chris Michaels of Calterra Capital have to say on this important topic!
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