Compliance & Regulation

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to clarify the scope of a federal law aimed at protecting mortgage customers from being overcharged by companies that provide real estate settlement services.

The Government National Mortgage Association is making it easier for MBS issuers to pledge their servicing rights to obtain financing from warehouse lenders.

The Obama Administration expects to roll out a plan to lower barriers to refinancing in "the next couple of weeks," HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan told mortgage bankers at their annual convention in Chicago.

State regulators have issued guidelines to mortgage examiners on how to test state-licensed nonbanks for steering and other violations of the Federal Reserve's loan origination compensation rule.

A sample of comments in response to the SEC's rating agency reform proposals suggests the market could find itself in a situation where the government must balance its interest in oversight and control with its plans to avoid more responsibilities and liabilities. It also may need to balance its aim to restrict conflicts of interest with another reform goal involving more sharing of information and transparency.

Since being seized by the government during the financial crisis, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac haven't been businesses so much as government-owned mortgage utilities. That status was supposed to be temporary, but three years later, lawmakers have shown little appetite for changing it.

David Findel, the former CEO of Worldwide Financial Resources, has been sentenced to 63 months in prison for leading an $11 million fraudulent loan scheme.

An agreement has been reached between a risk management firm and a law firm that allows both firms to bring together their services regarding all aspects of residential mortgage banking.

The well-documented flaws in the mortgage loan origination process over the last few years have resulted in stringent regulations designed to bring sanity back to lending, albeit with more stick than carrot.

In the spirit of what he called "participatory regulation," the de facto head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau invited the Mortgage Bankers Association to suggest which areas of housing finance need his agency's immediate attention.