Compliance & Regulation

Devising a risk mitigation plan — and the training and oversight necessary to implement it — requires lenders and servicers to conduct a scientific investigation into the policies, procedures and controls they already have in place.

In the coming months, banks, mortgage lenders, consumer advocates and policy wonks will be slicing and dicing the latest Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data, as they do every year. Rarely, if ever, have the stakes been higher.

Within the span of a year, institutional investors with large portfolios of single-family properties have tapped the securitization market with nine deals, creating an alternative form of exposure to the housing market.

Proposals in Congress to change the structure of the government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac seem to be languishing in this election year.

RentTrack and TransUnion have partnered to ensure renters "get the credit they deserve for on-time monthly payments."

Rep. John Delaney said Tuesday that he's "optimistic" Congress could take up reform of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac next term, despite the political difficulties lawmakers have faced in getting legislation approved over the past two years.

There were fewer institutions originating mortgages in 2013, while low- and moderate-income borrowers took a smaller share of industry volume, according to the recently released Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data.

Mortgage underwriting overlays are not only tighter than they were precrisis, they're more restrictive than they were 15 years ago — a trend that Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro wants to change.

There is a good chance legislation that would provide regulatory relief to small banks and address concerns about which banks are dubbed systemically important could be wrapped in the same Senate bill next year, experts said at National Mortgage News's 4th Annual Regulatory Symposium.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's complaint database is an excellent source of information to help lenders make adjustments and refine their operations.