Compliance

FACTS: On Feb. 13, Patricia Ann King of Bakersfield, pleaded guilty to aiding and assisting the preparation of a false tax document and to three counts of mail fraud for her role in a mortgage fraud scheme.

Fannie Mae late Friday finally had something to say about Bank of America's announcement that it would no longer sell new purchase money loans to the GSE: it hopes to resolve the buyback disputes between the two parties.

Flagstar Bancorp, the nation's ninth largest residential lender, late this week agreed to pay up to $133 million to settle claims regarding unspecified underwriting practices associated with loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration.

After 12 installments last year, Interthinx will continue to record its monthly audio podcast called "Direct from DC" that discusses legislative and regulatory developments that impacts the mortgage servicing and lending industry.

Maryland is developing a pilot program to take its mandatory foreclosure mediation process paperless.

Bank of America Thursday afternoon confirmed that it will no longer sell any new purchase money mortgages to Fannie Mae -- though it will remain a HARP lender.

Two Marlboro, N.J. residents - an attorney and an investment broker - this week pleaded guilty to participating in a scheme to steal more than $2.6 million by filing fraudulent mortgage applications.

Woodward Asset Capital has made technological advancements to their two software solutions enabling small banks to have the capability to access these tools to monitor fraudulent activities in the distressed sales marketplace.

An upcoming legal decision related to whether a proposed $8.5 billion Countrywide RMBS settlement returns to New York state court could affect the speed at which a deal moves forward — or whether it happens at all, according to a new report from Barclays.

Fitch is concerned that some CMBS special servicers are charging undisclosed fees to borrowers seeking modifications and fears the practice may be the beginning of a trend.

Over the last 20 years you have all heard me speak of this agency. All federal financial institutions have to file Suspicious Activity Reports with it. The filer may not reveal to anyone this has been done under criminal penalty. The filer does it in good faith and does not even have to be right. It reaches the desks of the FBI, Secret Service and local prosecutors.

The mortgage division of D.R. Horton recently fell victim to a cyber security attack, potentially compromising sensitive borrower data, the Fort Worth, Texas-based homebuilder disclosed late Thursday.

According to the office of the inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, Reginald Harper developed a scheme with Troy Fouquet, a local real estate developer, to create and use false loans to hide delinquent nonperforming loans.

Fannie Mae's second multifamily DUS REMIC of the year drew several new investors that one of its executives said were attracted by the deal's relatively strong debt-service coverage ratio, LTV and diversified collateral pool.

A new Standard & Poor's report suggests a "proactive policy orientation" that "would focus on the financial system's overarching purposes" would be helpful in meeting regulatory aims when it comes to mortgages, among other things.

After a period of decline and stability, property valuation fraud risk increased approximately 8% in the fourth quarter compared to the third quarter. Property valuation fraud is perpetrated by manipulating a home’s value to create false equity, which is then extracted from loan proceeds by various means.

Mortgage industry compliance and risk management are expected to become "quite substantial in the next five years," according to one of the co-founders of Digital Risk, a company that plans to add 1,000 full-time professional positions in this area during 2012 alone.

The foreclosure-to-rent movement is an opportunity bound to keep servicers, investors and the Federal Housing Finance Administration busy in the near future. It also is a game changer in the nation’s housing culture because while following the path of homeownership preservation it also embraces renting.

CitiMortgage has agreed to pay the Federal Housing Administration $158 million for submitting bad loans to the mortgage insurance agency for endorsement.

The single-family housing market has yet to recover in Southern California but regional opportunities are sprouting up in multifamily, according to a new forecast from Wells Fargo chief economist John Silvia.