Compliance

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.

The Federal Trade Commission has brought more than 90 cases since 2009 to stop deceptive practices such as falsely promised assistance with mortgage modifications, and there are likely to be more actions related to modification fraud ahead, FTC officials said in recent testimony.

Fannie Mae said Monday it has taken its first step in providing additional loan-level disclosures by releasing a series of at-issuance data.

If the U.S. economy needs more stimulus, resuming the Federal Reserve's mortgage-backed security purchase program "would probably be the best course of action," according to San Francisco Fed President John Williams.

On Feb. 16, a federal grand jury in Tucson returned a four count indictment against Rex Adams for Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud, and False Statement to Influence a Financial Institution. At the time of the allegations raised in the indictment, Adams worked as a manager and loan officer for a mortgage broker in Tucson.

The National Association of Federal Credit Unions told leaders of the Senate Banking Committee last week that the credit union industry, which is emerging as one of the most important players in the home loan market, is opposed to any mortgage reforms that would include elimination of the federal guarantee on loans sold on the secondary market currently through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

A federal judge has ordered the former CEO of Brookstreet Securities Corp. to pay a maximum $10 million penalty in a securities fraud case related to the financial crisis.

Bond insurer MBIA Inc. reported losses in the fourth quarter of 2011. In a report released last week, MBIA said that it had an adjusted pre-tax loss of $252 million in the fourth quarter. That compares to an adjusted pre-tax loss of $311 million in the fourth quarter of 2010.

A federal court in Newark has issued an order effectively requiring CUMIS Insurance Society to cover millions of dollars of losses suffered by Sperry Associates Federal Credit Union in the massive mortgage fraud committed by U.S. Mortgage and its CU National Mortgage unit.

There is definitely no shortage of "knowns," and lenders who seek to understand even more can become acquainted with resources such as the 805-page Supervision and Examination Manual that was recently published by the CFPB. However, this is where hubris becomes dangerous, because unknowns remain.

A mortgage rescue scheme conspirator has been sentenced to five years in prison for his role in a scam that affected at least 1,800 distressed homeowners in Phoenix.