Compliance

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.

There is no guarantee that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will remain profitable in the years ahead, raising the possibility of further draws from Treasury, according to a report from the Federal Housing Finance Agency's inspector general.

Lending groups are demanding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau take down its mortgage rate calculator, arguing it is providing misleading information to consumers.

Lloyd's of London and Bankers Insurance Service will now offer errors and omissions insurance for Litigation Guard, an online system which performs compliance checks for non-QM loans.

Nomura Holdings Inc. and Royal Bank of Scotland Group helped fuel a bubble that led to the collapse of the U.S. housing market, an attorney for the Federal Housing Finance Agency said at the opening of a trial over defective mortgage-backed securities.

An expected rush of refinancings of Federal Housing Administration loans could force some mortgage servicers to take writedowns in the first and second quarters, but they have more incentive than ever to keep borrowers in the FHA program instead of letting rivals lure away their customers.

Ed DeMarco, the former chief regulator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, warned that efforts under the Obama Administration to expand access to credit could risk repeating mistakes that led up to the crisis.

Negative attitudes in Washington toward the mortgage industry are starting to thaw, yet devising Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's exit from conservatorship or charting the future of housing finance reform still will be tough.

Banks can expect to incur higher costs in several areas during the implementation of a settlement agreement to improve the accuracy of credit reports. But they might benefit in the long run by getting better information on borrowers.

Telecommuting isn't new for front-office loan officers, but in an increasingly competitive hiring environment, some mortgage lenders now let their underwriters work from home, too.

A New Jersey man admitted in federal court Monday that he helped perpetrate a $13 million mortgage scam that targeted overbuilt condos in Wildwood and Wildwood Crest.