Compliance

The concept that lenders need to have systems in place to affirmatively detect and redress problems before consumers are affected is very real and lenders should ensure their systems are up to the task.

Morgan Stanley said New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman intends to sue the company, alleging it misrepresented or omitted information when underwriting 30 subprime securitizations.

From new compliance scorecards to rethinking how to deal with consumer complaints, there's plenty to debate about the future of servicing. Here's a look at the most insightful and noteworthy discussions from this year's Mortgage Bankers Association servicing conference.

An audit of Ginnie Mae financials identified four "material weaknesses" and one "significant deficiency," primarily related to the accounting of $6.6 billion in defaulted loans made by the failed lender Taylor, Bean & Whitaker.

Embattled mortgage servicer Ocwen Financial faces up to $26 billion in damage claims by bondholders and a greater risk of being fired as a mortgage servicer on thousands of small, private-label trusts.

Having the extra time for implementation has been helpful because mortgage companies were experiencing difficulties meeting the first deadline for the change in procedure, which affects government-insured reverse mortgages.

Although lenders received some good news via Freddie Mac's February U.S. Economy and Housing Market Outlook, raising the enterprise's 2015 originations forecast from $1.2 trillion to $1.3 trillion, the Aug. 1 TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure rule implementation deadline still looms large.

The rate of delinquencies of 90 days or more has trended downward since 2009, but servicing costs have generally been rising, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. That is not the way it used to work.

The Federal Housing Administration's recent premium reduction is undercutting the private sector and expanding the government's role in the housing market, housing finance industry representatives told a House subcommittee on Thursday.

It can be difficult to have enough staff to handle an exchange of mortgage servicing rights, though companies are exploring different solutions

Since one out of every five households belongs to an HOA, lenders and servicers must understand the necessary rules and regulations and exercise extreme caution when processing these delinquent properties.

Problems related to loan servicing dominate the consumer complaints about mortgage companies made to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, but an agency official expressed optimism about the industry's response to these grievances.

Morgan Stanley agreed to pay $2.6 billion to settle probes into its creation and sale of residential mortgage-backed securities, as the U.S. Department of Justice holds another large Wall Street firm to account for the 2008 financial crisis.

BB&T has received subpoenas from the Justice Department tied to a probe of the Winston-Salem, N.C., company's FHA lending.

One in three struggling homeowners who received a loan modification through the Home Affordable Modification Program ultimately redefaulted on those loan.Meanwhile, the program that was supposed to help some 4 million families avoid foreclosure has helped only a fraction of that amount, according to a report presented to Congress.

MetLife Inc. agreed to pay $123.5 million to resolve a U.S. probe into shoddy loans at a discontinued mortgage unit.

Panelists at the MBA's mortgage servicing conference said that the best way for servicers to keep federal regulators off their backs is to be responsive consumer complaints. And if a state attorney general or regulator come knocking, it’s best to be responsive and cooperative.

The heightened regulatory environment for servicers has also prompted a wave of process improvements.

Mortgage technology firm ISGN has released its latest loan servicing system, LoanDynamix, which boasts a strong focus on compliance.

Analytics provider CoreLogic has designed a suite of new tools aimed at helping loan servicers provide servicemember customers with the benefits they are entitled to.