Compliance & Regulation

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.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is preparing $2 billion worth of structured asset sales that will hit the market shortly, a top agency official said Thursday.

Federal regulators may have to take a different approach in drafting a securitization rule after stumbling badly in their first effort to define which mortgages are safe enough to exempt from risk retention.

Technology vendors are responding to the new single point of contact requirement for residential servicers with Web-based portals that give borrowers insight into the loss mitigation process.

The American Bankers Association this week sent a letter to leaders in the Senate asking them to block an amendment drafted by Sen. Jeff Merkley, D., Ore., that among other things would require an independent third-party review of a troubled loan before a foreclosure could be finalized.

Bank of America said late Wednesday that it mistakenly mailed almost 5,000 Oregonians letters claiming they owe property taxes and might be risking foreclosure when they, in fact, don't.

House Republicans released an appropriations bill Wednesday that would slash funding for financial services agencies by 9% in 2012.