Compliance & Regulation

The 12 Federal Home Loan Banks have voluntarily agreed to rebuild their retained earnings now that their 20-year obligation of making interest payments on $300 billion of Resolution Funding Corp. bonds ends later this year.

Homebuyers struggling to come up with a 20% downpayment can rely on relatives or others to put up half the money under a risk retention proposal federal regulators are about to unveil.

Oldbe: This is a post for regulatory geeks, an attempt to understand the comment in a previous post about the Fed reportedly saying that under the new compensation rule if a broker business receives its compensation from the borrower (not the lender) then the broker must pay his individual loan officer involved with that transaction a salary.

Federal regulators have drafted a 'qualified residential mortgage' rule that mandates a 20% downpayment for such loans while leaving mortgage insurance totally out of the equation -- a move that could prolong the housing recession in several states and decimate the mortgage insurance industry.

After months of infighting, the federal banking agencies have reached an agreement on risk retention standards that would include some new rules for servicers, according to sources familiar with the matter.

The FBI investigation into a massive fraud at U.S. Mortgage Corp. and its CU National subsidiary orchestrated by Michael McGrath was initially uncovered by one of McGrath's business partners, who was negotiating his own plea in a separate mortgage fraud case.

The Obama administration has gained plaudits from even conservative critics by calling for the dismantling of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. But a growing number of observers are arguing that one of the Treasury Department's proposed replacements is effectively the same system by another name.

The Federal Court of the Eastern District of North Carolina sentenced Lynda Steele to serve 41 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release for committing real estate fraud in Cumberland County.

A former Austin, Texas, businessman has been indicted by a federal grand jury in connection with a Ponzi scheme that victimized more than 300 individuals and resulted in a total estimated loss to investors of $41 million.

The Georgia Department of Banking and Finance finalized a cease and desist order on Feb. 25 against the mortgage lending company Mortgage Direct Inc.