Compliance

Lower volume and improved processes are being credited for making mortgage lenders more efficient at getting loans through the origination process.

Home flipping, in which a buyer resells a property quickly for a profit, is on the decline as residential price gains slow and foreclosures dwindle.

Bank of America must pay a record amount for mortgage-related claims, but the accord still leaves questions about tax liability and other banks in the government's crosshairs.

Brian Moynihan has been in charge of Bank of America for nearly five years, and he has spent most of that time in lawyer mode, overseeing settlements worth $48 billion. He is generally praised for taking the bank to this point, but now comes the hard part: getting B of A to grow again.

Federal Housing Administration Commissioner Carol Galante signaled more affordable FHA financing could be coming as the agency’s insurance fund improves.

A mortgage industry laden with government enticements has no choice but to honor a duty to serve its benefactor's affordable housing goals, claim the contributing authors of a new book.

The benefits of homeownership are often cited in policy debates, though it has some downsides. Following are the advantages and costs of homeownership for neighborhoods and communities, as summarized in a recent research paper by Jason Fichtner and Jacob Feldman at George Mason University.

Bank of America Corp. will pay $245 million to settle U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission allegations that it failed to disclose rising mortgage losses and the risks of bonds tied to home loans.

Bank of America Corp. will pay $16.65 billion to end federal and state probes into mortgage bond sales, the harshest penalty yet related to loans that fueled the 2008 financial crisis, the Justice Department said.

The CFPB's definition does not tell the full story, so real estate agents need to move with caution, no matter what kind of letter a consumer brings from a mortgage loan officer.

Bank of America has agreed to pay $17 billion to settle federal investigators' allegations that it sold shoddy mortgage-backed securities ahead of the financial crisis.

Countrywide Financial Corp. co-founder Angelo Mozilo hasn't escaped the wrath of prosecutors for his company's role in inflating the housing bubble that preceded the financial crisis.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is preparing to serve Ocwen Financial Corp. with its second subpoena in as many months, adding to the already mounting regulatory pressure facing the country's largest nonbank servicer.

FirstMerit Bank in Akron, Ohio, has partnered with the Skillman Foundation to help residents in downtown Detroit purchase homes.

The hot-button topic of what Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should charge for loan guarantees is emerging as a key issue in reviving a private-label securitization market.

Equity sharing, a fledgling concept that never managed to gain traction as a loss mitigation strategy during the housing crisis, is being reincarnated as an alternative to home equity loans and other second-lien mortgage products.

All employees, including executives, need to be focused on compliance and customer complaints. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is specifically concerned when a company does not appropriately monitor third-party vendors.

Second-quarter data show housing activity has lost momentum and may experience only minor improvements in the second half of the year, according to a Fannie Mae's Economic & Strategic Research Group.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency banned banks and mortgage servicers from accepting commissions on force-placed insurance policies issued by affiliated companies. At least one mortgage servicer, Ocwen Financial, has found a way around the ban.

If consumers can't afford to pay the premium and the policy gets cancelled, servicers can acquire force-placed policies.