Compliance

Alternative data used to score "credit invisibles" may do more harm than good. That's because in areas like employment and insurance, no credit score is often better than a bad one

More than a dozen housing groups are urging lawmakers to pass legislation that would grant lenders a formal grace period for implementing new disclosure forms later this summer, arguing that the industry needs greater certainty than the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has so far provided.

Stewart Title Guaranty has agreed to offer a voluntary Deloitte & Touche compliance service to its independent title and settlement agents.

Two recent settlements show how far the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is willing to go to pursue lenders it believes skirted the loan officer compensation rules.

The details of the final Des-Moines-Seattle Home Loan Bank deal made it clear why this merger worked when past attempts had not and gave clues as to whether other institutions could one day follow suit. Following are three items that jumped out.

The Louisiana Real Estate Appraisers Board said Coester Appraisal Management Group did not violate state law for failing to pay appraisers "customary and reasonable" fees, and that its executive director "misspoke" about a stipulation and order with the AMC.

How interested banks, REITs and other investors will be in replacing the Federal Reserve as buyers of mortgage-backed securities insured by government-related entities depends on a wide range of regulatory and economic factors.

The regulatory burden for originators has not only been the main driver of acquisition activity in mortgages but also influences deal structures. Acquirers are looking to craft transactions so they don't get burned by targets' compliance lapses.

Securities issuers are increasingly worried that risk-retention requirements could hinder efforts to broaden the types of loans securitized through the private-label market as implementation for the new regulation nears.

The Louisiana Real Estate Appraisers Board has fined an appraisal management company $5,000 for failing to pay "customary and reasonable" fees to appraisers.

Guarantee Mortgage Corp. has agreed to pay a $228,000 fine to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on allegations that it violated rules dealing with loan originator compensation.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is in talks to pay $2 billion to $3 billion to settle a probe into its sales of mortgage bonds leading up to the financial crisis, according to a person with direct knowledge of the situation.

Getting together and sharing information and experiences should extend beyond executives throughout the mortgage industry to those we rely on most.

PHH Corp. has been ordered to pay $109 million over allegations that it illegally accepted kickbacks on reinsurance premium payments after Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray partially overruled a decision previously made by an administrative law judge.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a consumer advisory on Thursday warning older consumers about misleading advertisements promoting reverse mortgages.

RPM Mortgage and its chief executive are facing $20 million in fines on allegations that the company violated the loan originator compensation law enforced by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

The House approved a measure Wednesday that would bar the Department of Justice from using federal funding to apply a controversial legal theory on price discrimination in litigation.

The CFPB gave little ground in its pledge Wednesday to be "sensitive" to lenders that make a "good-faith effort" to comply with new mortgage disclosure rules that go into effect in August. The agency's statements fell short of a formal grace period that the industry and lawmakers had been demanding.

Bank of America scored a legal victory this week for all holders of second liens.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a blog post Wednesday designed to mollify industry and congressional concerns that lenders will not be ready to implement new disclosure forms by an Aug. 1 deadline.