Compliance & Regulation

The Obama Administration is pushing back against a recent news report that concluded U.S. taxpayers will subsidize the roughly $25 billion mortgage settlement.

Fannie Mae has purposely kept its mouth shut regarding its investment in servicing rights - especially its $74 billion MSR purchase from Bank of America this past fall which cost the GSE about 50 basis points. But its days of being super secretive may be coming to an end.

Britton & Koontz Bank in Natchez, Miss., has been ordered by its regulator to immediately take steps to reduce the level of risk in its real estate loan portfolio.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency wants to make GSE loan buyback policies more transparent, eliminating uncertainty in the secondary market while encouraging lenders to fund new loans.

Joining ranks with 37 other states, South Carolina has outlawed private transfer fees on homes.

New final IRS/Treasury regulations defining the source of income from qualified "fails" expands the scope of a temporary regulation related to Treasury fails to agency mortgage-backed securities and debt.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is determined to continue its mission of shrinking the balance sheets of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and plans only to add product when the two need to buy delinquent mortgages out of delinquent MBS pools.

A majority of Supreme Court justices seem convinced that RESPA is simply an anti-kickback statute -- but may rule that the 1974 law has a broader reach if they defer to HUD's interpretation concerning unearned loan fees.

Certain appraisal management companies acting as a middleman between an originator and appraiser are not registering with the states, raising concerns about lost tax revenue, according to the National Association of Independent Housing Professionals.

Fitch is concerned that some CMBS special servicers are charging undisclosed fees to borrowers seeking modifications and fears the practice may be the beginning of a trend.