Compliance & Regulation

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.

If we’re going to tackle our industry’s areas of weakness, we need to be able to define risk. We need a standardized way to classify the various types of risk.

It's undeniable that small business is the growth engine of the economy that also helps stimulate the housing market recovery. Many of the third-party service providers, such as special servicers and foreclosure counseling agencies are small size business companies.

The Mortgage Bankers Association is willing to back a GSE-related refinancing bill introduced by Sen. Al Franken, D., Minn., but wants assurances that the industry will no longer be hit with buyback requests on loans that are several years old.

The Lawyers' Committee and counsel Davis Polk & Wardwell filed a lawsuit this week in New York Supreme Court in Nassau County on behalf of 18 homeowners claiming that a network of for-profit loan modification companies conducted a scam on them.

It is better to address the future of the GSEs now rather than wait for stability in the market because if it is done at that time, it would reintroduce instability, Fannie Mae chief economist Doug Duncan told the Regional Conference of the Mortgage Bankers Associations in Atlantic City.

What's the most common complaint I hear these days from mortgage executives? Answer: too much regulation. I'm not going to sit here and tell you to "get used to it" but we all know that given the continued housing recession/depression that there will be no easing up on the regulatory climate any time soon.