Compliance & Regulation

Radian Asset Assurance announced the successful acquisition of Municipal and Infrastructure Assurance Corp. (MIAC) on Thursday, following the approval of its regulator, the New York Insurance Department.

More than 10 states recently made legislative and/or regulatory changes related to real estate loans and foreclosures, according to MRG Document Technologies, which regularly tracks such compliance changes.

Ultimately, Ocwen Financial Corp.'s pending purchase of Litton Loan Servicing is likely to benefit the investors in the $45 billion of mortgages that Litton manages and some of the homeowners. That's because Ocwen has a record of moving faster than Litton to resolve troubled loans, either through modification or foreclosure.

Wells Fargo & Co. decided to exit reverse mortgages after federal officials insisted it foreclose on elderly customers who were behind on property tax and insurance payments, a Wells executive wrote in an email to business contacts Friday.

Two loan processors who defrauded lenders of $6 million have been sentenced to prison terms that will last from two to five years.

The final defendant who participated in a mortgage fraud ring conspiracy that resulted in $10.6 million in loan proceeds through false property transactions has been sentenced.

Despite fraud remaining flat for the last five quarters nationwide, CoreLogic has made projections that increases will occur over the next two quarters.

While a loan broker or loan officer is prohibited from “steering” a consumer to a lender offering less favorable terms in order to increase the broker’s or loan officer’s compensation, the loan broker or loan officer is not prohibited from “steering” a consumer to the same type of lender if the lender is offering more favorable terms! (12 CFR §226.36(e))

A federal judge Friday sentenced former Colonial Bank warehouse chief Catherine Kissick to eight years in prison after she pleaded guilty to helping Taylor Bean & Whitaker executives pull off a $2.9 billion fraud scheme that brought down both the bank and the nonbank lender.

When the largest lender –by far – in a mortgage niche exits the sector it usually signals that trouble is afoot. But according to the head of the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association, Wells Fargo’s exit from the reverse business is not a death knell.