Compliance

HSBC Holdings defeated New York's lawsuit alleging its paperwork delays put property owners in foreclosure at an increased risk of losing their homes.

The mortgage application and closing process is once again facing an overhaul. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will soon require lenders to provide customers with integrated disclosure forms, which aim to clarify costs associated with real estate transactions. As with any new process, the switch poses a number of challenges for lenders — and could even put business at risk during implementation. Here are five pitfalls to look out for in the process.

The technology, still in its early development stages, will analyze Home Mortgage Disclosure Act files prior to formal submission to the regulator so lenders can spot and fix errors faster.

If lenders can't get the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to back off its Aug. 1 integrated mortgage disclosures deadline, they're at least hoping to get some leniency while they adjust to the new process.

Some nonbank issuers of mortgage-backed securities are wrestling with capital pressures, and Ginnie Mae has cooperated with their efforts to sell chunks of mortgage-servicing-revenue streams to investors.

Bank of America is asking the Justices to overturn lower-court rulings that mortgage loans with a secondary lien on a debtor's asset can be "stripped down" to zero when the collateral is completely underwater. The decision could affect an even wider range of second liens.

Confusion about pre-approvals is rampant and has been the subject of vehement debate.

Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, unveiled legislation Friday that would require the banking agencies to review Dodd-Frank Act rules as part of a mandated process to assess the relevance of financial rules.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau may delay the Aug. 1 implementation deadline for new mortgage disclosure forms if vendors aren't ready, said CFPB Deputy Director Steven Antonakes.

The Justice Department's Clifford White is putting all mortgage servicers on notice that they too will be punished if they flout bankruptcy rules.

There are a lot of consumer, investor and regulatory complaints about how the nonbank servicing firm does business, but Morgan Stanley researchers offer reasons why certain investors and borrowers could benefit from sticking with Ocwen.

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, announced a vote for Thursday of 11 bills aimed at lessening regulatory burden on banks by changing aspects of the Dodd-Frank Act and associated regulations.

In the wake of confusion about the status of pre-approvals, an expert on compliance seeks to clarify, but exhorts the CFPB to do so, officially, "prior to the effective date of the new rule."

Changes to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's consumer complaint system could give lenders lots to gripe about if they don't prepare accordingly and be proactive, mortgage industry consulting firm STRATMOR Group said March 23.

Citigroup's failure to pay 24,000 people owed money as part of a settlement with the government over foreclosure abuses has prompted Maxine Waters, the senior Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, to call for an investigation into whether banks missed other borrowers.

The CFPB wants to expand banks' data reporting requirements under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act. But this would impose even greater costs upon local financial institutions that are already overburdened by regulation.

The agency's interpretation of a Respa rule could put an end to the long-standing practice of mortgage lenders paying real estate agents and homebuilders to send business their way.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finalized a contentious policy Thursday allowing customers to describe their banking experiences more fully on the agency's complaint portal.

From interest rate movements to new disclosures and vendor management challenges, the recent Regional Conference of Mortgage Bankers Associations touched on myriad hot-button topics the mortgage industry faces this year.

Hoping to deliver relief to Americans pounded by the financial crisis, the government has poured billions of dollars into a sort of Red Cross for homeowners.