Compliance

Slight rises in delinquency rates in the fourth quarter on credit cards and mortgages contributed to the index's increase

Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and three other residential servicers agreed to pay $25 million to New York State to resolve certain monetary claims over the use of the MERS database after reaching a $25 billion national settlement on robo-signing charges.

The release of the last few details of the $25 billion mortgage servicing settlement this week revealed a deal that was, overall, not quite as bad for the banks/mega-servicers as many observers and analysts expected.

The Securities and Exchange Commission Tuesday sued the former top executives of now defunct 'super' jumbo lender Thornburg Mortgage, accusing the trio of hiding the firm's deteriorating financial condition and overstating income by $400 million.

Moving unexpectedly two days ahead of schedule, the Federal Reserve Board released the results of its annual stress test Tuesday afternoon, with certain large banks emerging as the strongest among their competitors.

A lawsuit filed by the county register of deeds in Guilford County, N.C. Tuesday claims mortgage documents in its records were 'robo-signed' in the name of Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems Inc. and wants a court to appoint a "Special Master" to determine which documents are fraudulent and require servicers to refile documents.

As fraudsters reinvent themselves, insiders warn about recent increases in short-sale fraud and call for preventive monitoring.

Every housing market investor has a certain mindset that guides decisions as to where to put their money, why, and when. Optimally, this "investment mentality" is not concerned with consumption or waste, but rather is focused on how to minimize risk and multiply hard earned dollars.

Swamped by huge volumes of delinquent mortgages, servicing managers at Bank of America, and Wells Fargo & Co. placed heavy pressure on staff to speed up handling of documents used to process foreclosures without properly reviewing their work, according to HUD audits released Tuesday.

The Lawyers’ Committee and counsel Davis Polk & Wardwell filed a lawsuit this week in New York Supreme Court in Nassau County on behalf of 18 homeowners claiming that a network of for-profit loan modification companies are conducting a fraudulent scam.

The departments of Justice and Housing and Urban Development, along with 49 state attorneys general, filed their joint $25 billion agreement with the nation's five largest mortgage servicers in court Monday.

Moody's Investors Service has downgraded Ocwen Loan Servicing's rating as a special servicer to 'SQ2-' from 'SQ2'.

The Federal Reserve Board on Thursday released details on steps three more mortgage servicers are taking to correct deficiencies in their foreclosure practices.

Protestors interrupted Bank of America Corp.'s chief executive Brian Moynihan during an investor presentation Thursday, shouting "Bust Up Bank of America!" and, curiously, "It's International Women's Day."

The outstanding amount of home mortgages as of 4Q11 fell $40 billion quarter-over-quarter and $240 billion year-over-year to $10.3 trillion, Standard & Poor's analysts noted, citing the Federal Reserve flow-of-funds data.

Sustained low interest rates will continue to erode U.S. state housing finance agencies' excess capital and put further downward credit pressure on the agencies, according to a report published Tuesday by Standard & Poor's Ratings Services.

In one of the most ambitious lawsuits of its kind so far, Space Coast Credit Union has filed a civil damage claim against several investment banking firms that sold $150 million of mortgage-backed CDOs to Eastern Financial Florida Credit Union, which failed in 2009, and was then acquired by Space Coast.

Several lenders have recently been investigated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and other regulatory bodies concerning their use of Marketing Services Agreements and similar types of agreements.

A federal appellate court has ruled that a Chicago homeowner can continue suing Wells Fargo for breach of contract and promissory fraud challenging the Home Affordable Modification Program.

Three California attorneys this week were indicted for conducting an illegal loan modification scam where troubled borrowers paid thousands of dollars in upfront fees but no meaningful services were provided. Eventually, the mortgagors lost their properties to foreclosure.