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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The 92-year-old thrift is doubling down on home lending after its mortgage unit posted a net loss of $2.2 million in the third quarter.
October 31 -
The cost to originate a home loan is skyrocketing as lenders try to comply with stricter rules to catch problem loans. Technology would better automate the loan process, but can small lenders justify the investment?
October 22 -
Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Wells Fargo got credit for providing $15.4 billion in relief to roughly 420,000 underwater borrowers last year, according to the settlement monitor.
October 16 -
The Federal Housing Administration has joined Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in calling for mortgage lenders to temporarily postpone mortgage payments for furloughed government employees and contractors who have been affected by the shutdown.
October 15 -
Almost everyone has an opinion about how to reform Fannie and Freddie, but some housing experts say the status quo isn't so bad.
October 10 -
Consumer delinquency rates rose slightly in the second quarter but remain at historic lows, according to the American Bankers Association.
October 8 -
The nation's four largest banks are holding $57 billion of seriously delinquent loans that they've been slow to move into foreclosure over concerns that the Federal Housing Administration will refuse to cover the losses and hit them with damages.
October 8 -
The Federal Housing Administration has asked the Treasury Department for a $1.7 billion bailout, but its commissioner and others say the agency does not actually need the money.
September 30 -
Battered by defaults on loans it insures, the Federal Housing Administration is expected to tap the Treasury Department for $1 billion to $1.5 billion to plug a budget shortfall.
September 25 -
For the first time ever, the GSEs are creating formal programs to flag defective loans and assess risks in lenders' mortgage processes.
September 18 -
The nation's largest mortgage lender is exploring the sale of some servicing rights because the market is flush with potential buyers and it sees little opportunity to cross-sell many servicing clients.
September 10 -
The federal regulator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is seeking at least $6 billion from JPMorgan Chase to settle a lawsuit over soured mortgage bonds sold to the government-sponsored enterprises.
August 28 -
The concern is that vendors are overbilling borrowers and servicers are not properly monitoring the vendors.
August 27 -
Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase said that they have fulfilled the requirements of the $25 billion national mortgage settlement.
August 23 -
Fannie Mae was able to extract an $11.6 billion mortgage-repurchase settlement from Bank of America this year because the bank needed Fannie's approval to sell billions of dollars in servicing rights.
August 22 -
Applications for adjustable-rate loans now make up 6% of mortgage loan requests, up from 3% at the beginning of the year, though still well below the 32% peak in 2004.
August 19 -
The cost of doing business with the Federal Housing Administration could skyrocket if the agency adopts a new method for calculating lenders' liability for poorly underwritten loans that default.
August 13 -
Over the past few months, Fannie has raised the prices it pays to community-based lenders for mortgage loans.
August 8 -
Like large banks, community banks are facing a steep decline in mortgage income over the next few quarters as the refinancing boom that has largely driven profits in recent years finally comes to an end.
August 5 -
Richmond, Calif., has offered to purchase home loans from mortgage servicers and trustees and as part of its plan to restructure the underwater loans or potentially seize them through eminent domain.
July 31
