Preventable expenses eroding lenders’ profit margins

Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE), a leading global provider of technology and data, released “The hidden cost of fee cures,” a whitepaper based on an analysis of preventable expenses eroding mortgage lender profits.

The TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure (TRID) rule, also known as “know before you owe,” requires mortgage lenders to provide borrowers with a detailed accounting of costs and fees associated with purchasing or refinancing a home. Any errors made in the disclosure are the lender’s responsibility to detect and rectify. Depending on the specifics of the errors, lenders may be required to pay the difference between the disclosed and updated costs.

“With origination inching off a 30-year low, lenders need to be as efficient and detailed as possible. Every basis point counts,” said Tim Bowler, President of ICE Mortgage Technology. “Unfortunately, fee cures and the costs associated with them – entirely preventable expenses – are contributing to the already ballooning cost to originate a mortgage.”

Keeping track of frequently changing closing costs, especially transfer taxes, can be a major pain point for lenders. Failure to keep up with such changes can be an expensive proposition. Anecdotal evidence has long-suggested fee cures are cutting into origination revenue and, indeed, an ICE review of nearly 90,000 mortgages found an average of $1,225 per loan wasted on fee cures and related expenses.

Not only is this a significant amount when extrapolated over a lender’s entire pipeline, but the prevalence of such cures is startling. The study also found that over a period of just six months, more than one out of every three loans reviewed for this study required some type of fee cure.

ICE Fee Solutions documented more than 31,000 transfer tax changes from 2021 through early 2023, and the trend is accelerating. These changes can have short implementation timelines, variable schedules, and substantial fee increases, all of which pose operational challenges for lenders trying to rapidly document these changes.

For more information on the true cost of fee cures, how to minimize these preventable expenses to maximize profit margins, download ICE’s latest whitepaper here.

About Intercontinental Exchange

Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE: ICE) is a Fortune 500 company that designs, builds, and operates digital networks that connect people to opportunity. We provide financial technology and data services across major asset classes helping our customers access mission-critical workflow tools that increase transparency and efficiency. ICE’s futures, equity, and options exchanges -- including the New York Stock Exchange -- and clearing houses help people invest, raise capital and manage risk. We offer some of the world’s largest markets to trade and clear energy and environmental products. Our fixed income, data services and execution capabilities provide information, analytics and platforms that help our customers streamline processes and capitalize on opportunities. At ICE Mortgage Technology, we are transforming U.S. housing finance, from initial consumer engagement through loan production, closing, registration and the long-term servicing relationship. Together, ICE transforms, streamlines, and automates industries to connect our customers to opportunity.

Trademarks of ICE and/or its affiliates include Intercontinental Exchange, ICE, ICE block design, NYSE and New York Stock Exchange. Information regarding additional trademarks and intellectual property rights of Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. and/or its affiliates is located here. Key Information Documents for certain products covered by the EU Packaged Retail and Insurance-based Investment Products Regulation can be accessed on the relevant exchange website under the heading “Key Information Documents (KIDS).”

Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 -- Statements in this press release regarding ICE's business that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of additional risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see ICE's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings, including, but not limited to, the risk factors in ICE's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, as filed with the SEC on February 8, 2024.

Source: Intercontinental Exchange

Category: Mortgage Technology

ICE-CORP

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