Compliance & Regulation

The government is proceeding with a vengeance in this attorney's opinion to prosecute fraud and to recover money where failed banks still had loans in their portfolio at the time of the failure. The FDIC “letters of inquiry,” subpoenas and lawsuits are just starting and I believe will escalate. The reason for this belief? The government is using private law firms for the most part in chasing the problems. You will note the letters indicate the delegation of authority if you have received one.

A Grapevine user discusses a particular loan scenario where a mother wants to save her daughter from going into foreclosure. Find out more here.…

A New Jersey woman has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with her operation of a $45 million Ponzi scheme that fraudulently solicited investments in real estate from more than 20 New York and New Jersey investors, according to Preet Bharara, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.

Three people, including a local attorney, have been indicted for allegedly operating a foreclosure rescue scam in Las Vegas during 2008 and 2009.

Selling any big-ticket item involves three steps: getting prospects to hear a pitch, demonstrating the item’s attractiveness and making the argument that it’s worth the price—even when the product is an antibank lawsuit.

The Rural Housing Service late last week re-opened its single-family loan program and it is guaranteeing new mortgages once again.

ATLANTIC CITY, NJ—Even though mortgage brokering is a very local business, if one thing could be taken away from the Northeast Conference of Mortgage Brokers here is that now more than ever, no matter what state they are licensed in, originators are facing similar issues.This is in no small way due to the passage of the SAFE Act, which in turn created a national set of standards for states to model their mortgage laws upon.

Settlement service fees for mortgage originations haven't budged much since new Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act policies took effect at the beginning of the year, according to a new study.

A study from Demographia, a St. Louis public policy consulting firm, finds land use regulations have driven costs in some major metropolitan markets so high that new housing has become unaffordable for consumers despite low interest rates, a study from Demographia, a St. Louis-based public policy consulting firm, claims.

Due out in eight days, the annual Federal Housing Administration actuarial review could point to the future role government will play in housing finance.