Compliance & Regulation

The Modification Team LLC, a Lawrenceville, Ga.-based mortgage business that offers services related to property sales, modifications and notaries, was issued a cease-and-desist order from the state’s Department of Banking and Finance.

The Federal Housing Administration’s single-family program is facing headwinds as the HUD secretary tries to keep the insurance fund above water and appease critics who want to reign in government programs.

Senate Democrats may try to fast-track a bill to open up the HARP 2.0 program so more lenders can refinance high LTV Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans held by large servicers.

The Obama administration used a speech by the president and an appearance on Capitol Hill by his housing secretary Tuesday to launch a push for legislation that would allow more Americans to refinance into lower interest rate mortgages.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is charting the course for new regulation on qualified mortgages, the new QM rule. Their goal is to dissuade lenders from partaking of mortgage loan programs that involve undo risk taking by imposing more stringent underwriting principals to potential loan applicants, including requiring that borrowers show they have the ability to repay a loan.

There is a dichotomy that has developed in the warehouse lending marketplace, said one industry consultant. There are more of these lenders around than a few years ago. But they are looking to make credit available only for loans that fit their overlays.

The Mortgage Bankers Association is calling for a merger of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s mortgage bonds both as a “first step” in transitioning into a single security.

Genworth Financial—which has been losing market share to rivals Radian and United Guaranty—this week made the decision to reduce its mortgage insurance rates for borrowers with loan-to-value ratios equal to or less than 95%.

Lenders, for the first time, are facing the possibility of paying "actual damages" as a result of the “qualified mortgage” definition, an attorney warned attendees at the Mortgage Bankers Association's National Secondary Market Conference in New York.

Webster First FCU Monday denied ownership of a mortgage once held by Saugus FCU, which it acquired last year and that is the target of a lawsuit seeking to halt foreclosure proceedings.