Compliance & Regulation

A regulatory mechanism designed to support unsolicited ratings includes obligations that complicate its use. Post-crisis single-family securitization sectors like the new rental market are instead drawing "unsolicited comments."

Home loans to lower-income Americans are dwindling as Washington regulators and major banks continue to haggle over who pays when riskier mortgages go bad.

Mortgage insurers agree that the FHFA's capital-retention proposal would offer more clarity than the existing regulatory framework, but they share concerns about the treatment of single-premium policies, risk requirements and other details.

Essent Guaranty in Radnor, Pa., is now an approved insurer of mortgage loans sold to Federal Home Loan Banks.

At least two mortgage servicers say they are close to being released from an OCC enforcement order that required 14 of the nation’s largest bank servicers to fix flaws in their foreclosure reviews. But the OCC says it has set no timetable for freeing any of the banks from the 2011 order.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are charging excessive loan fees, according to some industry groups, who claim it is time to stop overcharging borrowers who use conventional financing to buy a home.

During a wide-ranging discussion of the economy and regulation, Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf cited several factors that were harming the housing market. His comments came the same day the White House hosted a meeting on the topic.

A bill introduced in the House Financial Services Committee would eliminate appraisal requirements established by the Dodd-Frank Act for certain higher-risk mortgages when lenders hold the loans in portfolio for at least three years.

Post-crisis developments put a lot of underperforming loans in the hands of a small number of servicers. Increased regulation and the need for specialized skills drove banks out of the business.

California is planning to sell $110 million of veterans general obligation bonds in a competitive offering Thursday.