Compliance & Regulation

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.

President Obama's recent State of the Union speech, as widely predicted, turned out to be a campaign speech rather than objective, substantive oratory. GOP candidate Mitt Romney characterized the Obama speech as a 'Groundhog Day' event ... more of the same optimistic promises of things to come.

Among new Obama Administration moves to aid housing is a pilot program aimed at helping certain rural borrowers refinance to reduce their payments.

With Bank of America shedding mortgage servicing rights en masse, and a handful of other megabanks writing down their MSRs because of Basel III, prepayments and other concerns, one might think that the asset must stink to high heaven. Well, think again.

As might be expected, the American Bankers Association is none-too-thrilled with a new White House plan to tax banks to pay for a new government refinancing program.

Military generals are cautioned to avoid fighting the last war; time and opponents have a way of producing new ways to contest a battlefield, catching unwary leaders off guard. When it comes to housing policy and political power, are Washington observers missing the next conflict?

President Obama is urging Congress to pass a bank tax, funneling the money over to the Federal Housing Administration which will then refinance non-GSE borrowers who are under water on their loans.