Compliance & Regulation

On Dec. 3, KATHY PUCKET OF RICHMOND, IND., was sentenced to 51 months upon her guilty plea to mail fraud and obstructing justice. This followed an investigation by the Richmond Police Department, Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita's Prosecution Assistance Unit, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Muncie Office. (Notice the cooperation of multiple agencies)

The Government National Mortgage Association is doubling its net worth requirements for multifamily issuers to $1 million as well as imposing new capital and liquidity standards on firms.

Bank of America has directed its foreclosure attorneys to proceed with 16,000 foreclosure cases after a two-month hiatus where it took steps to ensure that cases were being processed correctly.

Joseph Smith, the White House nominee to be the new GSE regulator, is getting dragged into the fight over whether Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should participate in a principal reduction program managed by the Federal Housing Administration.

WASHINGTON — Mortgage brokers are concerned that in the coming months wholesale lenders will impose more restrictions on their operations as a result of the Federal Reserve's new compensation rules for LOs.

As the White House and Treasury continue to work on their recommendations to revamp the housing finance system — in particular, the GSEs — a new round of layoffs has begun at Freddie Mac with cuts soon coming at Fannie Mae, according to GSE and other officials.

In January, Rep. Randy Neugebauer, R-Tex., will become chairman of a House Financial Services subcommittee where he will conduct extensive oversight hearings on regulatory implementation of the Dodd-Frank Act.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development said it will launch a fair lending investigation into a practice identified by one consumer group as lenders refusing to offer FHA loans to borrowers with low credit scores.

WASHINGTON — In making the Rural Housing Service self-funding, Congress estimated the agency could guarantee $24 billion of single-family loans under the new premium structure — a huge jump in exposure from two years ago when it backed just $6.9 billion.

Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.) was approved by the Republican conference Wednesday to become chairman of the Financial Services Committee next year.