Compliance & Regulation

Despite policy changes that apply to new reverse mortgages, the rights for existing spouses of deceased borrowers remain unclear and subject to change until HUD and litigants agree on a final policy in line with court directives.

Lenders cannot afford to relax when it comes to performing regression analysis and fair lending training, but may find if they have strong compliance that they have more pricing options.

While the government-sponsored enterprises' move to allow down payments as low as 3% comes with some inherent risks, Fannie Mae executives are confident they can responsibly administer the new guidelines to ensure they're an effective tool for increasing access to credit.

More investors in mortgage servicers lost faith in the firms as quarterly results highlighted their struggles to expand into businesses, control costs and address issues raised by regulators.

Ocwen Financial is making progress to settle allegations against it, but that does not mean it will be cheap, one analyst says. The current servicing freeze in the industry has grown so serious that some say it may be delaying the government’s goals to expand the availability of mortgage credit.

Borrowers must have other factors such as housing counseling, stronger credit histories, or lower debt to income ratios to qualify for new low-down-payment loans, said FHFA Director Mel Watt.

Make certain your loan officers do not go off on their own and cause your company to be disciplined by regulators.

Washington-based Fannie Mae, which has been under federal conservatorship for six years, had net income of $3.9 billion for the three months ended Sept. 30, according to a regulatory filing Thursday.

Freddie Mac will return $2.8 billion to the Treasury Department next month, bringing its total payments to about $20 billion above what it got in aid after the 2008 credit crisis.

Private investors backing firms like RPM Mortgage are placing bets on lenders in the U.S. home loan business once dominated by Wall Street's largest banks.