Compliance & Regulation

Bank of America is close to settling a Justice Department probe into whether its Countrywide Financial Corp. unit violated fair-lending practices, according to a report from Bloomberg.

Daniel Mudd, the former Fannie Mae CEO who is the subject of a new, massive SEC fraud suit, announced Wednesday morning that he is taking a leave of absence from his current employer, Fortress Investment Group, New York.

House Republicans Tuesday afternoon killed a Senate-passed compromise on a short-term extension of the payroll tax cut that is funded, in part, by hiking the guarantee fees charged to seller/servicers by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Veterans are refinancing at a healthy clip these days as 2011 ends and loan limits on Department of Veterans Affairs guaranteed mortgages are slated to adjust downward in many counties across the nation.

It's that time of the year again: one in which financial services columnists wax poetic and ponder the Bailey Building and Loan and how if it existed today (it doesn't really) regulators would sue George Bailey (and Uncle Billy and 'Old Man' Potter since he sat on the board) for fraud to go after the D&O insurance.

The partisan fight over the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has snagged the nominations to head two other federal banking regulators.

It looks like Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller won't be getting his Christmas wish this year. Miller, who is leading the settlement talks with the top five mortgage servicers, said earlier this month that the settlement should be reached by the holiday.

The Senate over the weekend added an increase in FHA premiums to the payroll tax bill, passing the measure by an overwhelming margin of 89-10.

During the week of Dec. 5, three conspirators in a Valley mortgage-fraud ring say a Mesa minister with a worldwide following masterminded the scheme. A former loan officer, escrow agent and straw buyer who have pleaded guilty as part of a deal with federal authorities SAY THEY HELPED CLINT ROGERS launder millions of dollars through his ministry.

An Illinois man pleaded guilty in federal court for advertising and selling property in northwestern Alabama that he did not own or provide title for after receiving payments from prospective homebuyers to purchase these assets.