Compliance

Bank of America Corp. should win dismissal of a U.S. Justice Department lawsuit accusing it of misleading investors about the quality of loans tied to $850 million in mortgage-backed securities, a judge said.

Regulatory oversight is mounting for the appraisal management companies most lenders use to manage valuation compliance, so keeping tabs on them is more important than ever.

Federal Housing Administration Commissioner Carol Galante explains why she's encouraged lenders are lowering minimum credit scores, how manual underwriting can help overlooked borrowers and where the agency's volume is headed.

Carol Galante has a challenge: Spur lenders to take more care when originating Federal Housing Administration loans, without scaring them away or causing them to hike pricing to cover the additional risk.

The Federal Housing Administration will require lenders to submit full electronic appraisals for the mortgages it insures — a risk management practice Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac adopted two years ago.

Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., unveiled a new plan Thursday to overhaul the housing finance market, entering what's becoming a crowded field of proposals to restructure the mortgage system.

Bank of America Corp. agreed to pay about $9.5 billion to settle government claims tied to faulty mortgages.

The largest landlords of single-family homes have formed an industry trade group at a time their impact on housing and finance faces scrutiny.

With more reliable loan data, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would have greater confidence that borrowers would not default. In return, lenders would receive a juicy carrot: fewer buyback requests.

HSBC Holdings was accused of targeting minority borrowers in Chicago with high-cost mortgage loans as Cook County, Ill., followed other local governments in trying to hold subprime lenders liable for urban blight.

There is growing evidence that Washington is making the same mistake with respect to the housing and mortgage markets.

First mortgages increased 2.8% from a year earlier in February, the largest year-over-year uptick since September 2008.

Sen. Heidi Heitkamp is striking an optimistic tone for mortgage finance reform, saying she’s hopeful that a Senate Banking Committee plan to overhaul the market could make it to the chamber floor for a vote this year.

Farmers have been benefiting from steady increases in commodity prices in recent years, partly driven by extreme weather. But the underpinnings of that growth seem to be on the wane.

Edward DeMarco will step down from the Federal Housing Finance Agency nearly five years after becoming its acting director.

Federal regulators issued a proposal Monday that would establish standards for states that register and supervise appraisal management companies.

Foreclosures and home loan delinquencies dropped in February while the refinancing slowdown continued, according to a monthly report from Black Knight Financial Services.

Lenders should avoid repeated mistakes in their process as they could be used as evidence of a fraudulent intention to originate loans without proper safeguards and underwriting processes.

Higher rates, mounting costs and the opportunity to lend to underserved borrowers have pushed some residential lenders to lower their minimum FICO scores, despite broader reluctance to take more risk in a heavily-regulated market.

Housing and lending groups are urging the government sponsored enterprise regulator and conservator to keep the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loan limits where they are for now.