Kate Berry has covered the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for American Banker since 2016. She joined the publication in 2006 covering mortgage lending and the financial crisis. Berry also has covered big banks including Bank of America, J.P. Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo. She has won five awards from the Society of American Business Writers and Editors, and has worked at several news organizations including the Orange County Register, the Los Angeles Business Journal and the Associated Press. Berry began her career as a clerk at the New York Times.
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Banks with large mortgage operations are struggling with lower profit margins, detrimental fair-value accounting rules and new regulations that add cost. The market is discounting their stocks as a result, but many of these banks say the blanket assessment is unfair.
September 2 -
Moody's Investors Service downgraded two servicer ratings for Ocwen Loan Servicing, reflecting additional scrutiny by regulators and concerns about the nonbank mortgage servicer's ability to ensure timely payments to bondholders.
August 29 -
Ginnie Mae President Ted Tozer took issue with a government watchdog report that criticized both his agency and the government-sponsored enterprises for failing to catch the massive fraud at Taylor, Bean & Whitaker.
August 27 -
The Charlotte, N.C., bank has lost more than $60 billion on its acquisition of Countrywide, including the cost of last week's big settlement with the Justice Department. But its issues are hardly over. The pain will continue for years as it has hundreds of thousands of delinquent, unsellable mortgage loans to work through.
August 27 -
Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae all overlooked warning signs about Taylor, Bean & Whitaker that make them partly to blame for the mortgage lender's multibillion fraud scheme, according to a government watchdog report.
August 26 -
Brian Moynihan has been in charge of Bank of America for nearly five years, and he has spent most of that time in lawyer mode, overseeing settlements worth $48 billion. He is generally praised for taking the bank to this point, but now comes the hard part: getting B of A to grow again.
August 21 -
The Federal Housing Finance Agency banned banks and mortgage servicers from accepting commissions on force-placed insurance policies issued by affiliated companies. At least one mortgage servicer, Ocwen Financial, has found a way around the ban.
August 18 -
PHH is appealing one of the largest judgments ever awarded in a mortgage case. The dispute encapsulates many of the problems that have plagued the servicing industry in recent years.
August 13 -
Though some borrowers will suffer from payment shock when home equity lines reach their end-of-draw-period after 10 years, the risks are isolated. Fewer than 20% of home equity lines have an elevated risk of default in the next few years, TransUnion found.
August 7 -
It sounds liked a great business formula: home loans soared at several megabanks last quarter after they spent months cutting thousands of jobs to save costs. But executives remain concerned about profit potential because market shifts and new regulations are making mortgage lending more expensive.
July 25 -
Since PHH is now a pure-play mortgage company, it made sense to have just one executive running the business, industry experts said.
July 25 -
Independent mortgage lenders are concerned that regulators will use the report as an excuse to raise minimum net worth requirements for smaller lenders.
July 22 -
In another reshuffling of its mortgage ranks, Bank of America has promoted D. Steve Boland, who joined the company through the 2008 acquisition of Countrywide Financial, to head residential lending.
July 21 -
Nonbank mortgage lenders pose greater risks to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac because they have limited government oversight and generally weaker finances than banks, according to a government watchdog report.
July 17 -
The Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago is launching a pilot program soon to buy home loans and issue Ginnie Mae securities. The program could allow community banks and credit unions to stay in the mortgage business.
July 14 -
Lenders hope to earn bigger profits by originating loans that fall outside the qualified mortgage guidelines, for which they can charge borrowers significantly higher interest rates, but legal risks remain.
July 1 -
The massive growth of nonbank mortgage servicers poses risks to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, according to a report from the Federal Housing Finance Agency's inspector general.
July 1 -
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac suffered "significant financial harm" from "excessively-priced" force-placed insurance, an inspector general's report says, advising their regulator to assess whether to sue banks and insurers for damages.
June 25 -
Wholesale lenders are capping broker compensation at 2.75%, below the CFPB's 3%, adding another "overlay" above and beyond regulatory requirements. Some say borrowers are being shut out as a result.
June 24 -
The Federal Housing Administration is on better financial footing thanks to an expected $418 million payment from SunTrust in a settlement resolving claims that the bank originated defective loans.
June 18
