Compliance & Regulation

When the topic is principal reduction the glass is either half full or half empty. Yet, if mounting pressure on government sponsored enterprises and their conservator results in a green light to writedowns on GSE loans as everyone expects, such a solution will also require the approval and financial support of the department of treasury.

Over the past two months National Mortgage News has been reporting on a mysterious warehouse lender called eWarehouseOne. Late this week we learned that Anthony J. Simich, a division vice president for the firm - and one of few employees there who actually returns phone calls and emails - resigned.

JPMorgan Chase (JPM) reclassified $1.6 billion of mortgages as nonperforming loans at the urging of regulators - even though the loans are still in good shape, executives said Friday.

Comments about the Property Assessed Clean Energy program that the Federal Housing Finance Agency asked for came in recently with environmental advocates and local government representatives calling for Fannie Mae and Freddie to find a way to deal with the lien dilemma the program presents so as not to restrict the use of PACE loans.

The risk for mortgage fraud in the areas of employment and income rose last year, according to Interthinx.

Three banks suing MBIA Inc. accused the bond insurer of deliberately withholding damaging financial projections from insurance regulators who were evaluating its transformation.

Credit unions could be hurt by a proposal that would allow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to write down the principal on millions of underwater mortgages, industry leaders warned this week.

Like many controversies, mortgage lenders' use of force-placed home insurance arose from what was once a well established and unquestioned practice. For many years, homeowners who failed to maintain property insurance could count on their banks buying it for them and passing on the cost.

A lack of comprehensive planning by the Treasury Department and an inability to enlist servicer participation has stymied a federal program that provided billions in borrower assistance to state housing agencies, according to an inspector general's report.

Although Edward DeMarco, the acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, did not officially decide whether to allow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to pursue a broad principal forgiveness program, his remarks last Tuesday left little doubt he would ultimately reject such an approach.