Compliance & Regulation

On Dec. 8, Maria Quijada Ramirez of Bakersfield, Calif., was arrested at the home of a relative joining her husband and real estate agent daughter who already are in custody and awaiting trial. She was wanted on a $1 million arrest warrant in connection with an alleged $4.1 million mortgage fraud scheme.

Its Mortgagee Review Board has fined WR Starkey Mortgage $223,000 for violations of Federal Housing Administration lending requirements, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Especially in times of crisis debt collectors may not be on customers’ favorite list but once a fraudster takes the place of a legitimate collector customers and their financial services providers are victims of financial abuse.Such risk becomes even higher during an economic crisis where the number of debtors tends to grow.

While mortgage fraud is not at the levels it was during the middle years of this decade, it is still having a large impact on the industry.Figures just released by CoreLogic estimate the fraud loss for 2010 to be $11 billion, down from $14 billion in 2009.

In the new era following the subprime-lending disaster most mortgage lenders are looking more carefully at the implementation of their underwriting and quality control criteria—including the Federal Housing Administration.Citing “serious” underwriting standard violations the FHA Mortgagee Review Board has permanently withdrawn FHA approval of Cambridge Home Capital LLC and is also seeking a monetary penalty of $182,000.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development said it is awarding more than 500 housing counseling organizations with $73 million in grants for 2011, up 22% from this year.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency finalized three rules on Wednesday, including one that requires Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to reduce the size of their portfolios.

WASHINGTON — If the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has its way, federal regulators would not wait for Congress to create national servicing standards, but instead write such rules as part of risk retention guidelines set to be released soon.

A divided Federal Communications Commission approved a measure to begin regulating Internet service providers’ activities, creating a general set of rules designed to promote equal access and openness to the Internet, a concept known as Net neutrality.

Congress has breathed new life into the FHA manufactured housing loan program and now Ginnie Mae is on the verge of approving its first two MH mortgage-backed securities issuers since the 1980s.