Compliance

The special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program said Wednesday that it worked with Google to suspend advertising for a slew of alleged online mortgage modification scams.

Two Michigan registers of deeds have filed a class action lawsuit against Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems for allegedly not paying proper county and state transfer taxes.

The Justice Department began sending letters Monday to servicemembers who are entitled to $20 million in damages from Bank of America Corp. for alleged violations of the Servicemember Civil Relief Act.

Military personnel whose homes were improperly foreclosed upon will each receive at least $116,875 from BAC Home Loans Servicing, a subsidiary of Bank of America, for the bank's alleged violation of the Servicemember Civil Relief Act.

Clarity Services has released its new Clear Subprime ID Fraud solution designed to prevent mortgage fraud for lenders in the subprime market.

U.S. District Judge Liam O'Grady has sentenced a man to two years in prison, followed by 24 months of supervised release, for using his professional experience as a loan officer to commit mortgage fraud.

Effective Jan. 1, 2012 the California Real Estate Commissioner may issue citations to unlicensed persons the commissioner believes to be engaging in activities for which a real estate license is required or to licensees who are in violation of any provision of the Real Estate Law or any rule or order thereunder.

Lawyers have opened a new front in mortgage securities litigation by suing BNY Mellon and U.S. Bank over an alleged failure to properly handle the storage and recordkeeping of mortgage documents. But observers and participants in more established mortgage repurchase litigation question whether suing over trust and document custody errors is a promising fight.

Not only is the government suing Allied Home Mortgage for FHA fraud, its lawsuit calls into question how company founder and CEO Jim Hodge handled complaints by insiders about its net branch arrangements.

The numerous agencies involved in financial regulation should find better ways to coordinate with each other as they seek to implement the massive Dodd-Frank Act, according to a government watchdog report released Thursday.

A new Senate bill proposing to wind down the GSEs by at least 10% a year also includes a provision that would replace the private MERS System with an identical platform run by the Federal Housing Finance Agency -- along with new national standards for mortgage title transfers.

A judge has given the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and former executives at Washington Mutual Bank until yearend to settle civil charges related to the thrift's 2008 failure, raising the likelihood of an out-of-court resolution.

Former Mortgage Bankers Association chief executive John Courson is the new president and CEO of the Home Builders Institute, the workforce development arm of the National Association of Home Builders.

County and state officials are turning up the heat on MERS, as recent lawsuits filed in Florida and Delaware challenge the validity and accuracy of the mortgage industry-controlled loan registry.

Although the chances are slim, the conforming loan limit in a few high-cost housing markets could rise on January 1.

The Obama administration seized on a rare case of bipartisan consensus Thursday — the need for strong consumer protections for members of the military — to pressure Senate Republicans to confirm Richard Cordray as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Worried that the latest federal efforts to ease foreclosures will fall short, some bankers and community advocates want Washington to offer even more ways to keep borrowers in their homes.

American Securitization Forum Executive Director Tom Deutsch testified Thursday before the capital markets subcommittee of the House Financial Services Committee.

On Oct. 26, charges were expanded against four people accused of making illegal real estate deals that netted more than $11 million, and two defendants have been added to the amended complaint, according to the Fresno County District Attorney's Office.

U.S. District Court for the Central District of California Thursday dismissed a civil claim filed against Lender Processing Services by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which accused the mortgage vendor of gross negligence in appraisals conducted for the now defunct Washington Mutual, Seattle.