Compliance & Regulation

Moody's Investors Service downgraded the senior and mezzanine structured-finance ratings on a 1999 series of single-family mortgage bonds issued by the Idaho Housing and Finance Association to A1 from Aaa and Aa2. The outlook is negative.

The loss of revenue from the naming rights of the Kodak Theatre is negatively impacting the commercial mortgage-backed security that includes a mortgage for the renamed Hollywood and Highland Center, according to a report last week by analysts at Deutsche Bank Securities.

The National Credit Union Administration late last week told a federal court Goldman Sachs & Co. violated an agreement between the two parties that suspended the running of the statute of limitations on mortgage-related securities claims related to the failures of U.S. Central FCU and WesCorp FCU while the two sides negotiated a settlement.

Al Siapno, a Border Patrol agent from San Diego and his wife Leila have pleaded guilty in a mortgage-fraud scam that involved at least 24 other people and several home loans throughout the county. The alleged perpetrators listed in a federal indictment overstated incomes, over-appraised home values and used other fraudulent means to obtain millions of dollars in mortgages.

If you're looking for the missing piece to the mortgage "deconsolidation" equation, its name is Wells Fargo. Never before in the annals of residential finance has one company amassed such an enormous market share in lending (27%) and servicing (20%).

Wells Fargo's origination business has been operating at full steam, keeping the company’s mortgage servicing assets well above a cap proposed under Basel III. A new servicer compensation system could resolve the issue, but something has to give.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency has a "healthy skepticism" about whether its REO bulk sale initiative will work, according to Meg Burns who's in charge of the sale.

Foreclosure law firm Steven J. Baum P.C. and Pillar Processing LLC have agreed to a $4 million settlement with New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman for conducting improper legal filings against distressed homeowners.

One of the most misunderstood and misapplied areas concerning LO compensation involves the application of varying compensation related to the source of the business. In its simplest form, the concept is that a company should be able to pay a loan officer more for a self-originated deal than it pays a loan officer for developing a loan through a lead purchased by the company.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau late this week unveiled an interactive database with answers to consumers' frequently asked questions about financial products.