Compliance

Lenders are doing a much better job closing the loan applications they are getting, and they are doing so in a shorter period of time. Tight credit has not increased the risk that a loan will fail to close.

Now that Congress has rolled back steep increases in flood insurance premiums, lawmakers and housing interests are on the Federal Emergency Management Agency's case to avoid another bungle.

The City of Los Angeles accused JPMorgan Chase of targeting minority borrowers with predatory loans in a lawsuit filed two days after Wells Fargo lost a court bid to dismiss a similar case.

As regulations reshape the reverse mortgage, lenders hope to end up with a safer, more reputable product. Meantime, the changes are turning the economics of this business on its head.

The city of Providence, R.I., has sued Santander Bank alleging that bank violated the Fair Housing Act by refusing to make prime mortgage loans available in minority communities.

The head of a California mortgage lender who perpetrated a $5.3 million mortgage fraud scheme against Ally Financial will serve more than four years in prison.

Much has been made of how Basel III requirements have dulled banks' appetite for mortgage servicing rights, but a handful of institutions are buying within regulatory limits.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau last week quietly issued over $70 million in fines to entities which have been through private settlements without specifying why. Here are some likely causes.

The congressional stalemate over how to restructure the housing finance system leaves several questions unanswered about other bank regulations currently in the pipeline.

ReverseVision has launched an online education platform aimed at teaching lending professionals about reverse mortgages.

JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo are retaining more high-quality, conforming mortgages that they would normally sell to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, raising concerns that the banks are adversely selecting the weakest loans for the government-sponsored enterprises.

New York banking regulator Benjamin Lawsky said Wednesday his office will investigate claims that Ocwen Financial Corp. and other servicers require distressed borrowers to sign nondisclosure agreements in order to receive mortgage modifications.

Bank buyers and sellers should pay attention to the Fed's recent approval of Cullen/Frost's acquisition of WNB Bancshares. Cullen/Frost had to agree to improve its fair lending and other functions, underscoring the importance of buyers who work well in resolving compliance and other problems with regulators.

Fannie Mae sold $1.6 billion of risk-sharing debt to investors who today accepted the same yields on securities that wager on the default rates of riskier mortgages as on bonds tied to safer loans.

A task force of state and federal authorities set up in 2012 to probe the mortgage-bond sales that fueled the financial crisis has "more than a dozen ongoing investigations."

A joint effort by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to develop new technology for issuing mortgage-backed securities needs cost controls and a schedule, the auditor of the Federal Housing Finance Agency said.

Freddie Mac has long struggled to compete with larger rival Fannie Mae because the former's mortgage-backed securities trade at a discount to the latter's. Their new regulator may change that.

Last month, BMO Harris Bank changed policies on auto lending to pay a flat percentage of the loan amount to auto dealers making loans (sound familiar?).

The mortgage life support provided by the federal government since the crash is ebbing. It will be interesting to see if the industry can breathe on its own now.

• Top 50 Service Providers
• Lead Gen Logistics
• Commentary & Opinion