Compliance & Regulation

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has formalized a trend toward regulators holding the industry increasingly responsible for having a mechanism in place to police their own compliance, and they are nearing the point at which they might be starting to make sure the industry is in fact doing this.

Distressed homeowners have received only 10% of nearly $46 billion in federal aid since the money was allocated in 2009 under the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Franklin American Mortgage Co. told its loan brokers that beginning Aug. 1 the firm will only compensate them using the “lender paid” model.

Banks frequently respond to questions from loan officers complaining that a local competitor has a more "aggressive" compensation plan.

As originally designed, the Fed’s compensation rule tried to ensure that loan officers didn’t have any monetary incentives to steer borrowers into high-cost loans.

On July 17, an indictment was issued in New Jersey charging 11 individuals from five states a for their alleged roles in a $15 million mortgage fraud scam that used phony documents and straw buyers to make illegal profits on overbuilt condos, including a defendant who attempted to murder a witness to the scheme.

What's a mortgage loan originator to do when he discovers that one of the trade lines in an applicant's credit report actually belongs to a relative with a very similar name?

New advances are providing technology to mortgage industry and secondary market participants that allows them to access detailed information about residential mortgage-backed securities.

Although there still are risks to be accounted for, Wayne Tew believes this is a good time to be in the mortgage business.

A bipartisan bill that would permit regulators to grant federal charters to nonbank consumer lenders is being met with fierce resistance.