Compliance & Regulation

A Houston mortgage brokerage firm with 200 branches nationwide said it agreed to pay a $38,000 fine to settle alleged violations of Federal Housing Administration branching rules.

Ranking Democrats on the House Financial Services Committee are encouraging the GSE regulator to continue pursuing claims against Wall Street firms that sold private-label MBS to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Mortgage servicers completed 36,700 permanent HAMP modifications in July, down from 51,200 in the previous month, according to the Treasury Department.

Lender Processing Services Inc. has formed a strategic partners group to establish a network of default-related service providers.

The new Federal Reserve rule on compensation means new rules for some mortgage originators, explained Ken Jones, vice president of the California Association of Mortgage Professionals.

According to North Carolina attorney general Roy Cooper, a mortgage lender will pay $4.5 million for its role in a scheme to sign consumers to loans they couldn't afford on overpriced modular and manufactured homes.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development is charging a Chicago couple, their real estate agent and a real estate broker with refusing to sell a home listed for $1.8 million to a couple because of their race, in violation of the Fair Housing Act.

SMART Servicing, LLC, an affiliate of Steel Mountain Capital Management, is offering new software that provides the residential mortgage loan market with loan level information designed to help users control loss severity.

Bank of America said it completed nearly 4,100 permanent HAMP modifications in July, bringing the total number of B of A customers that have received modifications under the government program to 76,300.

Small banks and credit unions that rely on table funding to originate mortgages will be treated just like "mortgage brokers" under the new compensation rule issued by the Federal Reserve Board.