Compliance & Regulation

Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee have made it clear they believe the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is already too big and needs to be cut down to size.

In a major setback for credit unions and banks, the Internal Revenue Service approved new rules that require depositories to report interest payments to nonresident aliens, starting in 2013.

Comptroller of the Currency Thomas Curry this week urged eligible borrowers to sign up for the OCC's foreclosure-review process, and suggested that homeowners who didn't like the results would still be able to sue their mortgage servicers later.

For more than a year, lenders have complained about the tough enforcement regime and controversial legal theories espoused by the Justice Department's fair lending unit.

Title agents are hoping the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will get tough on lenders that low-ball the initial costs they disclose to homebuyers and then surprise borrowers at the closing table with higher charges.

Until not too long ago eWarehouseOne had a policy: if a firm didn't pass the application review stage, the company would return the mortgage banker's money. At least that's what company vice president Anthony Simich told National Mortgage News last month.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner reiterated support Wednesday for mortgage principal reductions at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency this week lifted an eight-year-old cease and desist order against the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago, which pioneered the Mortgage Partnership Program back in the 1990s.

The federal government doubled down on fair-lending enforcement Wednesday when the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said it planned to pursue actions against lenders even when discrimination was unintentional.

More than five months after the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) 2.0 was announced and there is not much seen in terms of the program's impact on prepayment data, according to FTN Financial in a report released this week.