Compliance

The Federal Housing Administration's new foreclosure relief options for nonborrowing spouses of reverse mortgage customers will increase loan servicers' costs, and some question how many consumers they will actually help.

President Obama's 2016 budget plan tackled a host of big picture items for mortgages, including Dodd-Frank reform, FHA lending and GSE reform.

The widespread return of the subprime mortgage business will be the big event for the mortgage industry in 2015.

Many ask whether there is any such thing as a “safe” marketing services agreement for mortgages. The answer, unequivocally, is yes.

McGraw Hill Financial Inc., the U.S. Justice Department and state attorneys general will announce a $1.4 billion settlement Tuesday over claims that Standard & Poor's inflated ratings on subprime mortgage bonds leading up to the 2008 financial crisis, according to two people with knowledge of the deal.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency will require nonbank mortgage firms to meet minimum liquidity and net worth standards to curb risks to taxpayers from the rapidly expanding industry.

The California Department of Business Oversight is accepting applications until Feb. 20 from firms or individuals with experience with the California Residential Mortgage Lending Act and California Homeowner Bill of Rights.

Two Republican legislators have suggested that affordable housing funding should be put on hold until Congress finally decides what to do about Fannie and Freddie. But why give Congress another six years to fiddle around with housing finance while the poor and homeless face a declining level of government housing assistance?

In yet another revision of its mortgage rules, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau proposed making it easier for small and rural lenders to make "qualified mortgages." Industry representatives said the changes are poised to make a big difference.

The Federal Housing Administration will make foreclosure protections available to a larger number of surviving spouses of deceased reverse mortgage borrowers.

The Treasury Department has exceeded its authority by keeping Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in conservatorship so long and taking all their profits, two legislative experts said Thursday.

Banks have made progress cutting their exposure to risky home equity lines of credit, ahead of a key 10-year threshold when billions of dollars of them will reset to higher monthly payments. But there are some prominent exceptions, especially among regional banks.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Thursday proposed a series of regulatory relief measures for small institutions, especially those in rural areas, to help them provide credit while they try to follow the agency's tough mortgage rules.

Regulatory attention is supposed to be laser-focused on servicers right now, especially when it comes to how consistent they are in applying workouts. So regulators should be looking closely at whether loans have forbearance.

A judge rejected a bid by the U.S. to put on hold a series of suits by Fairholme Funds and other investors challenging the diversion of profits from Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae to the Treasury.

At a hearing Tuesday, GOP lawmakers hammered FHFA Director Mel Watt for four hours over his recent decisions to allow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to buy loans with lower downpayments and provide money to two affordable housing trust funds.

Homeowners associations seeking unpaid dues are seizing on a court decision allowing them to foreclose on properties ahead of banks, and the FHFA is litigating to defend Fannie and Freddie mortgages. Private lenders, meanwhile, are trying to keep the problem from spreading to more states.

A majority of small bank executives are concerned about the impact of new regulations on their mortgage lending business, according to an industry trade group.

A California loan broker who defrauded investors of more than $17.4 million has been sentenced to five years in prison.

The Supreme Court gave borrowers the path to file a rescission notice without going to court, but experts expect more banks to initiate legal proceedings to stop rescissions they see as frivolous.