Compliance & Regulation

Even the most well-intentioned lenders sometimes fall short in terms of compliance with certain aspects of the Final Interagency Appraisal and Evaluation Guidelines, most notably when it comes to having policies and procedures in place to evaluate and monitor the ongoing performance of appraisers and having the required supporting documentation to show that the lender is evaluating and monitoring the appraisers.

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton outlined his plan to help troubled mortgage borrowers before a standing-room-only crowd packed into an auditorium the size of a football field at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center during the National Retail Federation's Annual Convention & Expo this week.

Not only has the housing meltdown affected state and local governments, servicers and investors, but homeowner associations too. These associations rely upon property taxes to pay for such services as utilities, trash pickup, snow removal, landscaping, and road and building maintenance, but vacancies have mitigated the number of improvements made in these communities.

Sen. Sherrod Brown is urging government negotiators to force banks to pay for a potential mortgage servicing settlement out of their own pockets, rather than by writing down the value of mortgage-backed securities owned by investors.

Some AMCs are looking at the UAD as an opportunity to revisit quality control processes, updating them and streamlining them where possible. Those AMCs that are not taking advantage of this opportunity should be.

Yesterday news broke from HUD secretary Shaun Donovan that a robosigning deal was imminent. Today, we learn that maybe a deal isn't as close as Donovan portrayed. Then again, the 'State of the Union' address is next week and there is some talk that President Obama wants to mention the robo settlement using the speech as yet another opportunity to bash the mortgage banking industry.

Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan said the ongoing settlement talks between the federal government, state attorneys general, and the nation's largest servicers has produced a "package of programs that we believe will be very positive" for the housing market.

A New York probe has brought national attention to servicers' alleged self-dealing in the sale of force-placed insurance. But the investigation is just one of many looming challenges to the practice.

The head of the Mortgage Bankers Association is calling on his brethren at other trade groups to work together with MBA to forge coordinated policies to "reestablish a vibrant" housing finance system in the U.S.

Mitt Romney has been a key figure in the saga of the nation's financial woes, perhaps more important than any other Republican politician. But much of what he did and said in the early stages of the crisis, including about housing, has been largely forgotten.