Compliance & Regulation

One blueprint for turning Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into privately run enterprises that is getting some play at Treasury comes from Redwood Trust —the firm that made headlines this spring when it pulled off the first private-label jumbo securitization in almost two years.

A Northwest thrift that acquired a failed bank just seven months ago has entered into a memorandum of understanding with federal regulators.

The Federal Housing Administration is clamping down on refinancings where a second lien is involved.

Scrutiny of so-called free credit report services is increasing as the Federal Trade Commission, in keeping with its consumer protection mission, has intensified its ongoing scrutiny of credit-related services due to concerns that, among other things, scores can affect would-the ability to get a loan.

If the Federal Reserve Board stretched the bounds of its emergency authority with the actions it took in 2008, Congress has found a way to snap things back into place.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York may require seller/servicers of nonprime mortgages and CDO sponsors to repurchase certain loans out of mortgage trusts that are controlled by the agency.

A pair of cases alleging violations of Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act anti-kickback provisions could impact relationships between title underwriters and agencies and how title policies are produced.

The Senate late Wednesday passed a bill that gives the Federal Housing Administration more flexibility to adjust its insurance premium structure, a move that will help rebuild its depleted capital reserves.

On July 29, 2010 Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard announced he filed a lawsuit against THE GUARDIAN GROUP LLC for engaging in allegedly deceptive mortgage loan reduction services that have cost more than 2,500 consumers millions of dollars.

After three long years the wait is over. The Inland Real Estate Group of Cos. in Oak Brook, Ill., is discussing the settlement of the Inland Western Retail Real Estate Trust Inc. lawsuit, which was filed in 2007 shortly after the merger of Inland Western Retail Real Estate Advisory Services Inc., related property managers and Inland Western.