Compliance

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.

Three more people from the Charlotte region have been sentenced as part of a sprawling mortgage and investment fraud investigation.

While many servicers are under pressure to sell of mortgage servicing rights, there's still a fair amount of interest in buying MSRs from other quarters of the market.

CFPB officials are keeping a close watch on the Qualified Mortgage and ability-to-repay rules to gauge whether further changes should be made. But mortgage numbers don't give a clear picture on what kind of impact they've had.

Here's a preview of some of the most interesting and important presentations scheduled at this year's MBA Servicing Conference, as selected by the editors of National Mortgage News.

The independent monitor overseeing Bank of America's compliance with requirements of its landmark mortgage settlement agreement has released his first report on the bank's consumer relief activities.

Consulting firm Teraverde Management Advisors has formed a new business unit to help clients grapple with their compliance requirements.

To take advantage of changing customer demographics and preferences, lenders must capitalize on digital technology. At the same time, digital technology should work in conjunction with, not as a replacement for, the loan officer.

Foreclosures and delinquencies may seem like problems from the past, but servicers are still struggling with a massive backlog of distressed loans and a return to normalcy is at least two years away, if not longer.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, who forced Wall Street's biggest banks to pay billions in fines for their roles in the subprime mortgage crisis, is pressing for action against executives at those firms, even as he prepares to leave his post.

The North Texas region has been a hub for mortgage servicing for decades, dating back to the oil bust and savings and loan crisis of the 1980s. Today, some key players and many smaller ones remain firmly entrenched in the area.