Compliance & Regulation

As mortgage fraud becomes a more prevalent issue throughout the country, Credit Plus Inc. has automated its fraud detection tools to help mortgage professionals verify loan application data to detect fraud incidences.

While not a huge fan of reality television, I recently paused to see some knucklehead being dropped from a helicopter into the jungle with just the clothes on his back and a few basic skills. His situation reminded me of the current state of the mortgage industry.

Two women recently pleaded guilty in Federal Court in the District of Minnesota to their roles in a mortgage fraud scheme that defrauded lenders approximately $4.2 million.

Over the past three years seller/servicers have been slapped with upwards of $40 billion in loan buyback claims from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and although these “requests to repurchase” are beginning to wane, the crisis still has some legs to it

Opponents of risk retention are beginning to sing the praises of transparency as an alternative to requiring securitizers of mortgage-backed securities to have "skin in the game."

Last year I focused on the critical role of the FHLBank System in providing liquidity and other benefits to FHLBank members. The primary benefit of FHLBank System membership is access to a stable and reliable source of funds at attractive rates across the maturity spectrum.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development will re-foreclose on all its REO properties in Michigan where the original foreclosure was conducted in the name of MERS using the state’s nonjudicial process.

A securities regulator late this week fined two Wall Street firms with each then settling the matter which involved separate allegations that the companies misrepresented and improperly supervised certain subprime RMBS delinquency figures.

Bank of America Corp. will pay $20 million and Morgan Stanley $2.35 million for improperly foreclosing on members of the military — some of whom were on active duty in Iraq and Afghanistan — under a settlement with the Justice Department.

Senate Republicans late Thursday declared victory in their effort to use a procedural maneuver to prevent the president from making any recess appointments during the Memorial Day holiday.