Compliance & Regulation

The court asked another governmental entity to remedy the plight of non-borrowing spouses facing foreclosure. So far options appear to give few consumers relief.

Bank of America Corp. Chief Executive Officer Brian T. Moynihan, who was named chairman this month, said legal costs stemming from defective mortgages are largely behind it.

McGraw Hill Financial said it's negotiating a possible settlement of government investigations into how its S&P unit graded commercial mortgage-backed securities and recorded a $60 million charge to cover the costs.

The credit quality of U.S. commercial mortgages being packaged into bonds slipped further in the third quarter as borrowers piled on more debt, according to Moody's Investors Service.

The Federal Reserve said it sees further improvement in the labor market while confirming it will end an asset-purchase program that has added $1.66 trillion to its balance sheet.

Mortgage executives who have long decried new regulations as excessive are increasingly becoming resigned to the fact that changes are here to stay.

The three-year-old U.S. consumer protection agency said it discovered that the largest mortgage servicers have been mishandling loan modifications and harming borrowers since new rules came into effect in January.

The CoreLogic Mortgage Fraud Report estimates that in the second quarter approximately $3.3 billion in mortgage debt contained elements of fraud or serious misrepresentations.

Housing policy needs to be refocused on strengthening household balance sheets, especially by making borrowers more resilient to home price declines. A new 15-year fixed-rate mortgage that allows borrowers to use the down payment to buy down the interest rate on the loan is designed to do just that.

Well Fargo has pledged to offer $5.2 million to homebuyers who will qualify for its Cincinnati NeighborhoodLIFT program.