Compliance

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.

It may be a buyer's market for residential servicing rights but that isn't stopping mortgage banking firms from unloading their legacy housing receivables in an attempt to clean up their balance sheets.

More banks can be expected to finally begin dumping their non-performing loans this year, affording investors their first real chance at acquiring commercial real estate assets at bargain prices, according to a new report.

It may be the best of times to be a commercial, multifamily banker and the worst of times to be a servicer of securitized multifamily loans.

As servicing fraud schemes rise in which scammers are taking advantage of distressed borrowers, it is important for lenders to step up their efforts in detecting and preventing these false scams from taking place.

Sen. Chuck Grassley took the Justice Department to task Wednesday for its fair lending settlement with Countrywide Financial Corp., saying it will have minimal economic impact for affected borrowers.

The U.S. Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network bureau this week released its latest quarterly figures, and a year-to-year increase in them suggests mortgage loan fraud-related suspicious activity is still on the rise. But they also offer some hope the numbers could recede if the high loan volumes from the peak of the housing boom are ever fully vetted.

Investors are lining up to get their hands on the thousands of government-held foreclosed homes, either to fix up the houses for resale or to hold the properties as rentals. But in a sort of if-you-can't-beat-them-join-them scenario, some builders are putting up brand-new houses as rentals.

One of the major challenges we as an industry are facing is survival. Like it or not, the mortgage industry is undergoing a change at least as cataclysmic to us as global warming is to the penguins of Antarctica.

A homebuilder has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Baltimore for conspiring to commit wire fraud arising from a construction investment scheme.

Internet scams were the top consumer fraud complaint in 2011, according to New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, but mortgages also earned a mention.