Compliance & Regulation

The state attorneys general have a secret weapon in their negotiations with the largest mortgage servicers: the results of a HUD investigation into the banks' robo-signing practices.

Effective immediately, FHA-approved supervised lenders that are regulated by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., Office of Thrift Supervision, or National Credit Union Administration whose consolidated assets do not meet the threshold required by those agencies for submitting audited financial statements (delineated at 12 C.F.R. § 363.1(a), 12 C.F.R. § 562.4(b)(2) and 12 C.F.R. § 715.4(c)) are not required to submit audited financial statements to FHA, nor an audited computation of net worth.

In an attempt to award the handling of certain business practices for Las Vegas condominium homeowners' associations to fraudulent companies, Steven Wark has pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud.

Of the many plays one can visualize in any football game, the "prevent defense" is one that likely causes some of the most "what the" moments. Essentially, the standard defensive line is abandoned trading rushing for coverage with seven or more players in a defensive back role, the goal of which is to prevent the opposing offense from completing a long pass by ensuring that no receiver can get behind the defense.

In the wake of the most severe episode of financial distress and the longest economic recession since the 1930s, the Dodd-Frank Act provides regulators with important new authorities to enhance financial stability and to respond to the regulatory challenges posed by large, complex systemically important financial institutions.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency late Friday filed a massive multi-billion civil suit against 17 firms that played a role in selling faulty subprime MBS to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – including the government owned Ally Financial and Fannie's biggest customer at one time, Countrywide Financial Corp.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is on the verge of filing a barrage of civil claims against investment banking firms that packaged nonprime loans into mortgage-backed securities while misrepresenting the quality of the underlying collateral, according to a new published report.

The Federal Reserve Thursday afternoon slapped Goldman Sachs with an enforcement action, saying its Litton Loan Servicing division engaged in a "pattern of misconduct" tied to robo-signings.

Goldman Sachs & Co. can complete the sale of its mortgage servicing subsidiary to Ocwen Financial Corp. now that the parties have agreed to a settlement with the New York superintendent of banks over alleged abusive services practices, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

Appraisers will be following new procedures for gathering and reporting property data starting Thursday, as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac move forward with the appraisal requirements of their Uniform Mortgage Data Program.