Compliance

With millions of people having their identity stolen every year, Regions Financial Corp. has developed a new product to help its customers guard against identity theft.Regions IdentityProtect is part of the Regions Financial Corp.’s suite of protection services, providing three services including protection, detection and resolution of identity theft.

The former president of the Florida A&M University Federal Credit Union, and a University policy institute director were sentenced to more than two years in federal prison last week and ordered to repay $134,000 in Housing and Urban Development grant money they were found guilty of stealing.

The financial system of the United States changed when President Obama signed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act last July.

The California Department of Corporations has halted a multimillion-dollar investment fraud by CanAm Capital Corp. and individuals associated with the Los Angeles-based venture capital and private equity firm.

What will the legacy of the robo-signing scandal be? Will it be more careful servicers who don’t cut corners under pressure from huge pipelines of foreclosures? Will it be large settlement payouts by the largest servicers involved in the mess?

As of Jan. 1, the Department of Real Estate has issued over 22,000 mortgage loan originator license endorsements. MLO license endorsements applications continue to flood in and the DRE expects to eventually issue over 30,000 endorsements. (cadrepr12011)

The Coalition to Stop Wall Street Home Resale Fees is demanding Freehold Capital Partners to release a list of properties that are paying predatory fees that they are unaware of.Wall Street Home Resale Fees are incorporated into home covenants that filter money from homeowners to private third parties that have no ongoing relationship with the property.

The Coalition to Stop Wall Street Home Resale Fees is demanding Freehold Capital Partners to release a list of properties that are paying predatory fees that they are unaware of.Wall Street Home Resale Fees are incorporated into home covenants that filter money from homeowners to private third parties that have no ongoing relationship with the property. Freehold Capital Partners said there is $600 billion in real estate nationwide that is subject to the fees.

New York Life Insurance Co., TIAA-CREF, the French bank Dexia and other institutional investors joined the list of bondholders seeking compensation from Bank of America Corp. over MBS losses they suffered from buying nonprime bonds from Countrywide Financial Corp.

An ever-changing regulatory environment is challenging everyone from servicers to foreclosure attorneys and their clients creating demand for simple services that may go a long way in benefiting all parties involved in the mortgage chain.

Software solutions provider MortgageFlex Systems Inc., Jacksonville, Fla., has entered into a partnership with Interthinx of Agoura Hills, Calif., in an effort to integrate within the same platform complementary tools that combine fraud prevention with predatory lending management.

Since the government seized control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the fall of 2008, the two have spent more than $160 million defending the firms and their former top executives in civil lawsuits.

A class action filed in New York over $3.4 billion in two mortgage-backed securities offerings ruled in favor of the banks that issued the MBS reaffirms that the law does not bend to political correctness.“Together we stand” may be valid in life but not in a court of law. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York denied class certification in a mortgage-backed securities lawsuit that alleged misstatements about residential mortgage loan origination practices in the offering documents for securities backed by those mortgage loans.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury ("Treasury") gives notice of the establishment of a Privacy Act System of Records primarily for the benefit of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau which will become active July 21. Comments are being sought until Feb. 9. This new system of keeping records will also become effective Feb. 9.

The nation's two largest mortgage servicers—Bank of America and Wells Fargo & Co.—are among the most sued financial service firms in the nation, according to a new tally from Institutional Risk Analytics.

NCUA told a federal court that it will add new charges against directors and officers of WesCorp FCU, even as its efforts to hold leaders of the corporate credit union accountable for the failure of the $34 billion corporate may be slipping away.

U.S. banks exported billions of dollars of mortgage-backed securities losses to their peers in Germany and elsewhere in Europe before the housing collapse. Now those overseas institutions may join the effort to put back some of the losses.

The Ibanez case ruled against the lender in a lender-borrower dispute over the validity of a foreclosure proceeding is not just a highly political homeowners’ protection issue. It sets a precedent expected to greatly affect the mortgage industry in the future.

HUD has issued its new mortgagee letter ML 11-02. The requirement is all Direct Endorsement lenders must update their respective quality control plans to include review of Sponsored Third Party Originators and the FHA insured loans they generate. The update shall document the methodology used to review the sponsored TPO’s, review all TPO loans that go into default during the first six months (i.e. become 60 days past due within the first six payments.) (ml 2011-2)

Now that the office parties have all concluded and the wrapping paper has hit the recycling bin, we must all turn our attention to this brave New Year. In our personal and professional lives, we will seek out that old comfortable standby, the New Year’s resolution. It would be comforting to think that recovery of the mortgage industry is simply a matter of a few timely resolutions.