Compliance

Recent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau enforcement actions against lead generation companies emphasize the breadth of lenders' responsibility for the third parties they expose borrower clients to.

Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro will get a boost in public visibility with a scheduled appearance on the Jan. 11 episode of "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert."

But the strong demand for tax credits from those projects is also whittling down the investment returns as their riskiness declines, according to a new report by the New York-based accounting firm CohnReznick.

A recent tax change will provide more stability to banks and developers that use the low-income housing tax credit program, and the supply of below-market-rate apartments should increase as a result. But it's not enough to create the economic incentives needed to meet skyrocketing demand for affordable housing in the U.S.

Some lenders have asked whether the bureau would adjust its so-called resubmission guidelines — which determine whether lenders have to refile data based on errors found in samples — and it has responded with a request for further industry input.

Clayton Holdings in Shelton, Conn., has opened a consulting office in Silicon Valley to work with financial technology companies.

The more aggressive nonbank lenders are attracting top producers by essentially allowing loan officers to set their own rate of pay. While so-called "pick-a-pay" compensation plans are not illegal, critics say they can encourage loan officers to steer consumers into more expensive loans in order to increase their own pay.

Increased enthusiasm for automated valuations presents an opportunity for the appraisal industry to develop tools that combine high-efficiency, low-cost processes with the accuracy of human expertise.

The demand for affordable rental properties has long outstripped the supply, with the gap widening as incomes have stagnated, homeownership rates have fallen and rents have soared in recent years. But now, banks are finding a profitable path to helping ease this severe national shortage.

WASHINGTON — JPMorgan Chase and EverBank were released from business restrictions stemming from the foreclosure reviews that originated in 2011, but also face new civil money penalties for their earlier violations of those restrictions, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said Tuesday.

As the mortgage industry begins the New Year, National Mortgage News takes a look at the biggest trends and topics that will shape 2016.

Tech-enabled shortcuts that borrowers might assume are harmless — or what loan officers, real estate agents and borrowers consider good customer service — may in fact lead to very risky, or even illegal, habits.

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 is important, but it barely scratches the surface of former House Financial Services Committee Chairman Michael Oxley's impact on banking.

U.S. judge rejects Quicken Loans' effort to move FHA loan case to Detroit courtroom.

Rather than relying on a formal marketing services agreement to get business, loan officers now have to prove that they can provide realty agents and consumers the best mortgage experience.

The Dodd-Frank Act is a burden on community banks and credit unions but regulators are struggling to quantify the costs, according to a report released Wednesday by the Government Accountability Office.

From the rollercoaster ride toward the TILA-RESPA implementation deadline to concerns about other areas the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau would zero in on for scrutiny, these seven stories dominated National Mortgage News during 2015. Following are both the stories and an update on where the situation stands now.

"The allegations of discrimination and predatory practices raised by the reporting are obviously very concerning to the bureau," a CFPB official said Tuesday.

What mortgage companies pay LOs, and how compensation plans are determined and structured, can give regulatory agencies more information about a company's priorities than lenders might think.

A proposal issued two weeks ago by the FHFA calls on the two government-sponsored enterprises to identify opportunities to increase their purchases of small multifamily properties in rural areas, sparking some concern among lenders.