Compliance & Regulation

On Aug. 29, two men suspected of scamming homeowners struggling to avoid foreclosure will be arraigned in San Bernardino Superior Court on a 45-count criminal complaint.

Chicago's City Council published an ordinance late last week that would require banks, mortgage servicers and institutional investors to maintain vacant properties before the homes have gone through foreclosure.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is looking at raising the 125% LTV cap on refinancing underwater borrowers while considering other enhancements to the Home Affordable Refinancing Program, according to agency acting director Edward DeMarco.

Obama Administration officials have identified several constraints on the HARP program -- including mortgage buyback risk -- that are keeping Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac seller/servicers from refinancing underwater borrowers.

Elizabeth Warren has headed back to Massachusetts, but she remains engaged in the partisan fight in Washington over the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

The Senate Banking Committee last this week approved a bi-partisan bill to reform the National Flood Insurance Program, extending it out for five more years.

Chris George, CEO of CMG Mortgage, San Ramon, Calif., is one of 13 businessmen picked by the Republican Party to offer a rebuttal of sorts to tonight's job creation speech being given by President Obama.

Former Mortgage Bankers Association chief executive John Courson has joined Treliant Risk Advisors as a senior advisor, a press release from the company said.

Congress wanted to create a large category of high quality residential mortgages that would be exempt from risk retention and easily securitized – but banking regulators have taken the opposite approach, according to Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Wednesday it is seeking public input on products and services aimed at members of the military and their families.