Compliance & Regulation

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has not named a permanent deputy director since July. Given the contentious political battle over Richard Cordray's recess appointment and ultimate confirmation by the Senate in 2013, some former officials say it may wait until after the election to make a choice. Here's why.

Understanding how consumers pay their debts over time is expected to widen access to credit for consumers recovering from financial problems or who were hard to score before. Just how many it will benefit is an open debate.

The U.S. Justice Department will decide in the next few months whether it will sue Moody's Corp. for allegedly inflating ratings on mortgage bonds at the heart of the 2008 financial meltdown.

Amid growing scrutiny of how the hand-off of mortgages is managed after loan closings and bulk sales, servicers are working to automate the entire process to create a consistent and accurate onboarding experience for borrowers.

Despite dire predictions by banks and others that new mortgage rules by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau would cut off access to credit, the industry is performing well two years after the regulations went into effect, according to the agency's top official.

Meaningful rules encouraging Fannie and Freddie to do more with manufactured housing would allow more lenders into the market and make pricing more competitive.

Bank mortgage originations were up 7% in the fourth quarter of 2015, while the number of Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.-insured institutions that deal primarily in mortgages dropped more than 9% from a year ago.

The affordable housing market has dried up in major cities across the country. In response, regulators and lenders are looking into new programs to get people back into single-family homes while also exploring ways to encourage multifamily developments.

Law enforcement authorities raided the headquarters of United Mortgage Trust in Grapevine, Texas, on Feb. 18, seeking documents related to the company's management.

With the stakes so high for compliance officers, their rights and responsibilities should be clearly defined, including a safe harbor for those who play by the rules.