Compliance & Regulation

Although a recent Massachusetts court ruling on foreclosures initially appeared to be bad news for mortgage firms trying to seize properties, it appears that it may actually help the industry.

Fraud definition (yesterday’s version):1.The intentional deception resulting in injury to another person.2.Something intended to deceive; deliberate trickery intended to gain an advantage.

Although Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are toying with the idea of changing their servicing contract with seller/servicers, the Government National Mortgage Association is not at this time.

The American Bankers Association is urging banking regulators to tailor the "qualified residential mortgage" standard so that the majority of loans originated by depository institutions are exempt from risk retention.

Despite reports to the contrary, Rep. Scott Garrett says Republicans still intend to privatize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac after a suitable transition.

The Mortgage Bankers Association is seeking to overturn a recent Department of Labor interpretation that requires mortgage lenders to pay their loan officers overtime pay.

A New York real estate attorney this week pleaded guilty to bank fraud and conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud in connection with a scheme that defrauded residential lenders out of more than $23 million.

A New York appeals court dismissed a lawsuit against bond insurer MBIA brought by twenty of the world's largest financial institutions, including Bank of America, Citigroup, and JPMorgan Chase. The lawsuit claimed that the 2009 split of MBIA amounted to a fraudulent conveyance.

Housing and mortgage trade groups are concerned that federal regulators will propose a narrow exemption to MBS risk retention rules that would impose high capital requirements on plain vanilla mortgages, making them unnecessarily expensive for creditworthy borrowers.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are considering overhauling the 25-basis-point servicing fee they pay to mortgage banking firms that process their loans, according to a report in American Banker.