Compliance & Regulation

MDA Lending Solutions launched a suite of mortgage fraud prevention software based on the recommendations that Fannie Mae gave the industry in the Loan Quality Initiative.

Mortgage fraud costs billions every year and despite law enforcement efforts to curb it, the number of cases continues to increase. Various software products help lenders review loan files, monitor borrower trends and track potential problems and now the federal government will begin using some of that same technology in its own mortgage fraud investigations.

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network has now proposed a requirement that NONBANK RESIDENTIAL MORTGAGE LENDERS AND ORIGINATORS, LIKE OTHER TYPES OF FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS, ESTABLISH ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING PROGRAMS AND COMPLY WITH SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY REPORTS REGULATIONS.

If the Department of Housing and Urban Development extends RESPA's reach to warehouse lending, it would severely limit the availability of funds for mortgage lending and hurt the housing recovery, according to three industry groups.

In a letter sent to Ohio judges, the state’s Attorney General Richard Cordray has requested that its courts continue to pay close attention to foreclosure cases that may have affidavits signed by so-called robo-signers and highlighted several Common Pleas courts that have taken action to address the situation.

The fight to prevent and end homelessness is waged and won at the local level. And 2010 has been a watershed year in that fight. As always, this Mayors Survey report is not only helping us understand the state of homelessness in our communities, but also how they are responding.

Industry vendor Kroll Factual Data, Loveland, Colo., said it has started a new technology-based service aimed at helping clients comply with fair credit reporting risk-based pricing regulations that take effect Jan. 1, 2011.

The administration has quietly shifted most federal high-risk mortgage initiatives to the government’s original subprime lender.It is hard to believe, but it looks like the government will soon use the taxpayers’ checkbook again to create a vast market for mortgages with low or no down payments and for overstretched borrowers with blemished credit.

The high upfront fees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac charge on certain single-family loans still do not "fully cover" all the costs and risks associated with those loan guarantees, according to Federal Housing Finance Agency acting director Edward DeMarco.

Taxpayers claiming certain deductions, including mortgage interest deductions, will need to wait until possibly mid- to late February to claim them in order to allow the IRS to adjust its processing systems to handle recent legal changes.