Compliance & Regulation

State mortgage regulators should get ready for a swarm of consumer complaints against lenders this fall, a California lawyer who focuses on unfair lending practices and foreclosures warned.

The Obama administration is seeking ideas from market participants on how Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and FHA can employ bulk sales of foreclosed homes, turning these units into rentals that will help stabilize local housing markets.

Federal agents arrested four Florida men Tuesday on charges that they scammed thousands of homeowners who were seeking loan modifications, according to authorities.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency Tuesday appointed Charles Taylor to oversee the development of capital requirements for national banks.

Sand Canyon Corp., a subsidiary of H&R Block that holds the remnants of the Option One Mortgage business, will pay a $10 million settlement to Massachusetts and institute a loan modification program providing an estimated $115 million of additional relief to consumers.

Federally insured banks, thrifts and credit unions have three times as many loan officers engaged in mortgage lending as state-licensed companies, according to new figures submitted to the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry.

The National Association of Independent Housing Professionals said it has a meeting scheduled for Tuesday with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to discuss the issue of loan buyback claims being forced upon mortgage brokers.

Fannie Mae, in a new quarterly filing, says it is receiving "higher amounts" from lenders on loan repurchase requests while its pipeline of buyback claims on defaulted mortgages continues to grow.

In the mortgage industry, lenders and servicers are not the only parties who have to comply with federal rules and regulations. Title agents and brokers have to follow the rules, and if they don't adhere to the laws, their new home is going to be inside a prison.

A title company owner in Baltimore has been sentenced to serve four years in jail for scamming lenders and homeowners of more than $2.2 million.