I’m so tired of the mainstream press talking about the 2024 election, 10 months out. Given that the median age of U.S. citizens is about 38 years, one would think we could find someone under the age of 75 to be president, regardless of party affiliation. On the other end of the age spectrum, at age 34, Gabriel Attal became France’s youngest prime minister. France’s inflation rate is running at 3.7 percent, which I mention because inflation and the actions of central banks are linked, and the inflation rate and the CFPB are linked. (Whenever I mention the CFPB to my cat Myrtle she feigns indifference. Sometimes she even saunters away.) The CFPB announced the annual adjustments for inflation to the CFPB’s civil penalty amounts, as required by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act, as amended. This final rule is effective on January 15, 2024. Tomorrow we will have the Consumer Price Index, meant to broadly capture changes in the prices of goods a
This morning I head to Dallas, Texas, where, if you ask Redfin, prices are up 5 percent for the year. Or Zillow will tell you prices are down 2 percent. Can’t we all agree on something? Certainly, we can all agree that inflation is simply too many dollars chasing too few goods. How about when too many houses are chasing too few insurance companies? No insurance company wants to be the last one standing. (Today’s “Mortgage Matters: The Weekly Roundup” at 11AM PT, 2PM ET, focuses on how LOs and brokers are dealing with the homeowners insurance nightmare.) In California, home to plenty of insurance companies dropping insuring homes, the Insurance Commissioner is an elected position. Ricardo Lara doesn’t want to lose his job, so doesn’t allow insurance companies to raise their premiums to compensate for risk. So, they drop out. “With the average premium priced over $1,400, some homeowners are opting to drop home insurance altogether. But thi
As the U.S. faces nationwide flight delays, one must ask if there are processes in place for the FAA to deal with them. “Trust the process” is a common thing to hear, but attorney Brian Levy reminds us of why process is important in the actions of government in light of the FHFA’s rescinded DTI pricing. The CFPB knows a thing or two about the process, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued an order against Nebraska’s ACI Worldwide and one of its subsidiaries, ACI Payments, for improperly initiating approximately $2.3 billion in unlawful mortgage payment transactions. ACI’s data handling practices negatively impacted nearly 500,000 homeowners with mortgages serviced by Mr. Cooper (formerly known as Nationstar). “By unlawfully processing erroneous and unauthorized transactions, ACI opened homeowners to overdraft and insufficient funds fees from their financial institutions. Today’s order requires ACI, among other things, to pa
I head to Connecticut early today for the CMBA conference, but on another personal note, congratulations to Robbie Chrisman, host of the daily mortgage podcast based on this Commentary, who recently rode his single-speed bicycle from Manhattan, across the Appalachians, to Chicago, working when not pedaling. (In terms of physical prowess, I feel fortunate not cramping up putting my socks on in the morning.) The weather seems to have improved in most places, the Northeast included, and we’re approaching travel season. Here’s an interesting list of tourist scams to avoid during all seasons. (I’ve never had a baby thrown my way.) Perhaps the improving weather influenced homebuilder sentiment, as have falling lumber prices: sentiment has improved in May according to the NAHB off the lows of 2022. People need a place to live, but perhaps not one to work. “The ‘return to the office’ won’t save the office: More people are going to offices more o
Pi Day has come around once again, which is also, coincidentally, Albert Einstein’s birthday. As I head to Lexington for the MBA Kentucky Education Conference, led by Alan Thorup, Matt O. sent, “I have an idea: We organize a 10k race in San Jose and call it ‘The Bank Run.’” (While we’re on sports, a moment of silence for Dick Fosbury who revolutionized the high jump in the mid-1960’s). High jumpers have a soft pad to land on, not so with some bank stocks Monday. Western Alliance Bancorp, supplier of warehouse lines to many an independent mortgage banker and parent of AmeriHome, First Republic Bank, Metropolitan Bank, PacWest Bancorp, and First Horizon. Fortunately, many have “bounced” but these are all non-money-center banks seemingly causing risk to the U.S. financial system. In Banking 101 one learns that borrowing short (by holding customer deposits) to lend long (by purchasing long bonds and MBS) to improve returns is b