Compliance

Community bankers are launching a last-ditch effort to push the Senate this year to pass more than a dozen bipartisan regulatory relief bills that have already cleared the House with support from both parties.

National Credit Union Administration board member Rick Metsger said a Federal Housing Finance Agency proposal to restrict Federal Home Loan Bank membership could give banks an unfair advantage over some smaller credit unions.

PennyMac became the third largest correspondent aggregator after banks turned their back on the mortgage origination channel. With banks now increasingly shedding servicing rights, PennyMac is poised to make a similar play in servicing.

Common sense underwriting, a regulatory system that abides by contract law, and borrowers who consider homeownership a privilege, not an entitlement, make Canada perfect for private -label residential mortgage-backed securities.

Interest rate risk. Demanding regulatory and GSE standards. Shifting demographics. These are among the reasons that lenders will have a hard time balancing the call for affordable home loans with legal and market realities.

A federal judge has dismissed an attempt by the New York Bankers Association to block a New York City law requiring an evaluation of community investments made by banks holding the city's deposits.

New regulatory and investor compliance requirements have put a renewed emphasis on quality control measures. But lenders are discovering the additional costs of these efforts are outweighed by the savings from originating fewer defective loans.

The draft released by the top Financial Services Committee Democrat would remove adverse information from credit reports and require consumer data furnishers to retain records.

Real estate investment trusts don't pose the credit risk to the Federal Home Loan Bank System that regulators claim they do, said the CEO of Two Harbors Investment Corp.

Standard & Poor's chances of settling the government's lawsuit over mortgage-bond ratings for less than $1 billion may have slipped away after Bank of America Corp.'s Countrywide unit was socked with a $1.3 billion fine.

The Federal Housing Administration wants lenders to make fewer mistakes when writing mortgages for the government insurance program. The agency also wants to serve more borrowers with low credit scores. Getting both may be tricky.

The industry will have a place at the table to discuss the creation of risk-sharing arrangements, Curt Culver said at an investor conference.

Morgan Stanley agreed to pay $95 million to settle a lawsuit by buyers of residential mortgage-backed securities who accused the bank of making false and misleading claims about the underlying loans.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is receptive to the idea of Federal Home Loan Bank mergers, according to the agency's director.

Allegations lenders failed to lend in certain geographic areas that are racially or ethnically diverse are mounting.

A conservative housing critic and liberal consumer advocate have created a 15-year home loan for low-income borrowers to build more equity.

Community banks are fighting a plan unveiled by the Federal Housing Finance Agency that would force many banks and thrifts to maintain at least 10% of their assets in the form of home loans or mortgage-backed securities.

Not every distressed borrower can, will or should get a modification. But in cases where they make sense, mod decisions should be swift and significant.

There are steps all of us can take in order to make certain our identities are not stolen, because any of us can become a victim.

One reason so many federal thrifts have switched to other charters is that the Qualified Thrift Lender test impedes their commercial lending. However, a top regulator says he wants it eliminated.