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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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 -
When the qualified mortgage rule took effect in January, many predicted the rule would stifle lending to low-income and minority borrowers. But a credit crunch never materialized, thanks to exemptions given to federal mortgage agencies.
June 17 -
The Massachusetts attorney general's lawsuit against Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac seeks to aid a nonprofit whose CEO has close political ties to Martha Coakley's gubernatorial campaign.
June 10 -
A reported $12 billion settlement with federal and state authorities could force Bank of America to take a charge eating up most of its second-quarter profits. After that, the bank may finally get to move on.
June 6 -
Executives at private mortgage insurers expect the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, to reduce some fees in the next year, which would make privately-insured GSE loans more competitive with government loans.
June 5 -
An appeals court on Wednesday voided a controversial decision in 2011 by New York Judge Jed S. Rakoff, saying he erred in scuttling a $325 million settlement between the Securities and Exchange Commission and Citigroup.
June 4 -
Lenders are doing a much better job closing the loan applications they are getting, and they are doing so in a shorter period of time. Tight credit has not increased the risk that a loan will fail to close.
June 2 -
An increasing number of severely delinquent mortgages that were securitized during the boom years are sustaining losses that are greater than the loan's original principal balance.
May 28 -
JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo are retaining more high-quality, conforming mortgages that they would normally sell to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, raising concerns that the banks are adversely selecting the weakest loans for the government-sponsored enterprises.
May 22 -
New York regulator Benjamin Lawksy plans to eliminate several layers of review for mortgage bankers to apply for a license or a new branch location, and to expand an investigation into the affiliated businesses of nonbank servicers.
May 20 -
Citi's move may bring much-needed liquidity to a segment of the mortgage market that most of the big banks, with the exception of Wells Fargo, abandoned in the aftermath of the crisis.
May 20
