Compliance & Regulation

Richard Cordray extended an olive branch to the banking industry last week when he said the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau would support legislation to protect data that institutions provide during exams.

The biggest issue facing the mortgage business this year is regulation. Nobody likes it. Most people would see some as inevitable. What would be too much?

Wholesale lending is back! OK, not exactly. Citigroup announced its exit from the channel this past week and some trade journals - not knowing their stuff - seemed to think it was the biggest story since the Hindenburg disaster. Wholesale only accounted for 9% of Citi's production.

Another state attorney general has filed a lawsuit against Merscorp, this time in New York, where Eric Schneiderman took aim at the thousands of MERS “certifying officers” employed by mortgage servicers whom he alleges filed defective and inaccurate foreclosure documents that deceived and mislead borrowers and courts.

A New York housing counselor on Thursday was sentenced to six years in prison for bilking 136 mortgage customers who sought loan modifications.

Less than 5% of originations backed by the Rural Housing Service last year were refinancings, but the agency is trying to change all that with a new streamline refi pilot program, unveiled this week by the White House.

The mortgage industry needs to push back-hard. For the better part of the last four years, politicians have been pounding on banks and lenders as the source of all that ails our economy. The most recent example was the State of the Union address, where still more regulation, oversight and government involvement with lending practices were promised.

A Senate bill that would bar members of Congress from trading on confidential information was amended Thursday to include a ban on paying bonuses to executives at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Employment concerns, tight underwriting and the over-supply of homes on the market are still outweighing what have been great gains in affordability, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said Thursday.

The Obama administration is working toward producing a plan to wind down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, according to Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner.