Compliance & Regulation

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.

WASHINGTON—The Government National Mortgage Association expects the increase in its minimum net-worth requirement to $2.5 million will have a limited impact on its active MBS issuers.

Rep. Ed Royce's underdog campaign to chair the House Financial Services Committee rests on two primary points: that he has been consistently right on a myriad of financial services issues, and that he could more effectively go toe to toe with Rep. Barney Frank and other Democrats.

The Federal Housing Administration's Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund ended fiscal year 2010 in better financial shape than its auditors expected with the agency projecting foreclosure claims peaking in the summer of 2011.

The federal government may need to spend upwards of $700 billion to resolve Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and then create a new government "entity" to replace them, according to a report from Standard & Poor's.

In conjunction with efforts under the Making Home Affordable Program, a new initiative called Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives has been employed to help eligible borrowers who were not able to complete a permanent modification under HAMP or other alternative home retention options.

WASHINGTON — With the GOP's sweeping victory in the mid-term elections, observers were already questioning the fate of Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner in the new Congress.