The MReport Webcast: Monday 5/2/2016

Mortgage interest rates have fallen by approximately 35 basis points since the start of 2016, according to Black Knight's latest Mortgage Monitor report. But borrowers are not able to fully reap the benefits from the drop in rates because home prices continue to rise.

According to Black Knight, borrowers could save would save approximately 44 dollars a month when purchasing the median-priced home nationally without rapid home price movement in the equation. After factoring in home price appreciation at 5 point 3 percent as of February, those monthly savings decline to 18 dollars per month. However, if rates hadn’t dropped over the past four months, it would cost an additional 28 dollars per month to buy the median-priced home compared to December 2015.

This week, a large number of prominent national organizations called for the CFPB to get even tougher.

A coalition consisting of more than 160 labor unions, civil rights groups, and other advocates wrote a letter to CFPB Director Richard Cordray calling for the Bureau to take its proposed rule to ban arbitration clauses that prevent consumers from bringing class-action lawsuits even further by prohibiting businesses from using forced arbitration in individual cases.