Compliance & Regulation

Last year's repeal of the final remaining vestige of Regulation Q, the prohibition of payment of interest on business demand deposits, at long last completed a pro-competitive process which began with the Monetary Control Act of 1980. The repeal was and is a good idea.

In case you haven't been paying close attention and reading the National Mortgage News website (and our paper weekly) the past year, there's a gargantuan shift underway in the mortgage industry. We correctly predicted that the servicing side of the business is 'deconsolidating.'

Collateral Intelligence has signed on with FICO to provide valuation and support for the credit risk provider’s analytic solution that predicts borrowers who are at risk of strategically defaulting on their mortgages.

Despite a $25 billion national mortgage servicing settlement being filed that provides assistance for homeowners to compensate for faulty foreclosure practices that occurred following the housing market crash, scammers were still prepared to capitalize on the vulnerability of desperate homeowners.

Despite the government's promise to crack down on violators of the new LO comp rules, nearly one year after they went into effect regulators have failed to deliver on their stern warnings and promises. Not surprisingly, some companies have elected to largely ignore the law, instituting compensation policies that are an obvious and blatant effort at circumventing the new compensation rules.

The Dodd-Frank legislation set new boundaries on the appraisal industry, especially in the areas of valuator independence and fees paid to those who perform work through appraisal management companies.

The $25 billion national mortgage settlement essentially allows the five largest servicers to police themselves - which has made many consumer advocates surprisingly happy.

With the overseers of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac digging in their heels against the use of principal write-downs for troubled homeowners, Senate Democrats pressed their case for a course change on Thursday.

Regulators likely will increase enforcement of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, with an idea toward sham 'affiliated business arrangements,' according to former FHA commissioner Brian Montgomery.

As if today's changing regulatory environment was not enough for the industry to contend with, the recent federal government and state attorneys general settlement for $25 billion with the country's top servicers has added a new wrinkle.