Compliance & Regulation

At the start of this year, nearly one in four mortgages was underwater and 4.5 million mortgages were seriously delinquent. And today, some studies estimate that as many as 10 million borrowers are at risk of defaulting on their mortgages in the coming years. One of the problems that has made things even harder for struggling homeowners is the state of the mortgage servicing industry.

The judge’s decision in a hearing the New York State Supreme Court held Tuesday afternoon on the $8.5 billion Countrywide Financial Corp. settlement appears to have kept the proceedings shorter than they otherwise might have been.

The Mortgage Bankers Association is supporting a Senate bill to streamline the Home Affordable Refinancing Program which relieves lenders of repurchase risk when they refinance underwater GSE borrowers.

It's been a bumpy ride in recent quarters, but loan-loss provisions have gradually tapered off and early signs from first-quarter reports suggest that lower provisions may be here to stay.

Tongues are clucking in the industry about the death of the ‘transitory’ license with many nonbank loan officers believing that their depository brethren are at a financial disadvantage.

The Securities and Exchange Commission late Tuesday reached a settlement with H&R Block subsidiary Option One Mortgage Corp., over charges that the now-defunct subprime lender misled investors that bought some of the firm’s MBS.

Lenders are getting smarter about uncovering fraud before putting bad loans on their books, according to the latest figures from the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is seeking input for a study that could pave the way for new limits on consumer arbitration clauses.

The FBI mortgage fraud caseload is on track to pass last year’s volume and possibly even the record total reached in fiscal 2010.

Treasury’s policy director Laurie Anne Maggiano is concerned about misperceptions related to how the attorneys general servicing settlement money will affect borrowers and the marketplace over time.