Compliance & Regulation

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.

Single point of contact requirements for servicers aren’t just another compliance burden, they’re an opportunity for improved margins and lower loss severity, according to Craig Focardi, a senior research director at consulting firm TowerGroup.

New issue, private-label MBS backed by either recent vintage or seasoned loans funded since the downturn have generally had some type of mechanism to enforce and/or clarify parameters for repurchases, a Moody's Investors Service analyst told National Mortgage News.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency wants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to be more responsive to troubled homeowners seeking a short sale solution or who receive a bid from an interested buyer.

If GOP hopeful Mitt Romney has his way HUD will be killed and presumably so will the FHA program. It's election season and the candidate - hoping to appeal to conservatives - wants to stick a knife in HUD/FHA because, well, it's a cabinet level agency and cutting big government is a red meat move.

In order to for any long-term economic recovery for the country, Peter Kassabov, chairman and CEO of Digital Risk, said it is important for companies to invest in and train their employees in order to remain in compliance with federal regulations.

As vacant properties rise across the country, code compliance is an ongoing challenge within the housing industry that servicers, property preservation companies and Realtors have to battle on a daily basis.