Compliance & Regulation

Raj Date, the deputy director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, said the agency wants to avoid creating "disincentives" for mortgage lenders and banks as part of the qualified mortgage rule.

While by law the Federal Reserve Board must worry about price stability and unemployment, Chairman Ben Bernanke appears to have charted a third mandate for the central bank: financial stability.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency closed the $51.9 million-asset Fort Lee Federal Savings Bank. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. entered into a purchase agreement with Alma Bank in Astoria, N.Y., for $15.7 million of the failed thrift's assets.

It's nice to know there's one sector of the mortgage business that's hot. In fact, it may be overheating (does anyone want to say bubble?). It's the agricultural mortgage sector. Now, before you dismiss this niche as insignificant, read this.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau poked its thumb in the eye of residential loan officers originating mortgages for depositories.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau shut the door on states issuing transitional licenses to bank loan officers who seek work for an independent mortgage banking or brokerage shop.

In the recently released CFPB enforcement guide, the newly formed agency clearly announced that it expected lenders to begin to institutionalize compliance to enhance monitoring, training and avoidance of errors and complaints. Federal agencies are already beginning to internalize this self-policing perspective.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development indefinitely debarred three Florida loan officers and a Pittsburgh title agent following their criminal convictions for defrauding elderly borrowers, mortgage lenders and the Federal Housing Administration.

Joseph Smith, the man responsible for ensuring that five of the nation's largest banks comply with the massive multi-state mortgage servicing settlement, has a stark message for the five banks involved: make sure your internal review teams are independent and thorough.

Edward DeMarco, acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, said he is "deeply concerned" about underwater borrowers, but added that forbearance plans and short sales already serve as forms of principal reduction without saddling taxpayers with further losses.