Compliance

What a difference five years make. Back in 2005 lenders didn’t have the same incentive they have today to use technology and analytical services on their loan originations because they didn't have much, if any, skin in the game.

Efforts to minimize LoSses in general are attracting a lot of market attention when it comes to short sales, but the fraud factor in this area is sometimes overlooked.

The purchaser or assignee that acquires the loan must provide the required disclosures no later than 30 days after the date on which it acquired the loan. This applies to any consumer credit transaction secured by the principal dwelling of the consumer. This became effective May 20 to all mortgage loans sold or otherwise transferred on or after that date.

Due to growing concerns raised by the GMAC foreclosure scandal, Fitch Ratings believes loss severities on residential MBS could worsen, and is warning servicers to double-check how they foreclose on troubled loans.

Grapevine visitors discuss a specific situation where a borrower has a foreclosure due to going through a divorce. Find out what advice readers have to give to this banker.

A replacement for the Home Valuation Code of Conduct is coming soon and the Federal Reserve Board is also working on new rules for ensuring lenders and others don’t exert undue influence on the appraisal process.

The Council of Better Business Bureaus and the National Foundation for Credit Counseling are encouraging consumers and small business owners across the country to fight identity theft by taking part in the Third Annual Protect Your Identity Week, Oct. 17-23.

Any mortgage fraud that is being reported today might not get dealt with until at least two years from now because federal agents are still dealing with cases from 2005 through 2008, a pair of Federal Bureau of Investigation agents told attendees at the Northeast Conference of Mortgage Brokers in Atlantic City, N.J.

On Sept. 17, Harvard law professor Elizabeth Warren was appointed to launch the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Warren also will have a broad portfolio of duties, advising President Obama on "policies and programs that are designed to protect the financial interests of middle-class families," the White House said.

As the national foreclosure prevention campaign and other efforts have begun to mature, loan modification fraud is becoming more defined, increasingly falling into two categories.

Technology provider DataVerify has enhanced its enterprise-wide fraud management platform, DRIVE, to help mortgage lenders identify and avoid potential short sale and property flipping losses.

Visitors to the Grapevine discussion board talk about the "fine print" involved in certain contracts and what the future might look like for those lenders doing hard money loans.…

It’s good news for the state of Arizona. Attorney General Terry Goddard has been awarded a $1.7 million grant from the U.S. Office of Justice Programs to fight mortgage fraud in his state.

The owner of a title company in Red Bank, N.J., pleaded guilty to stealing $3.8 million in loan proceeds intended for payment of mortgage balances and other closing costs.

As you think of the suspense-filled spy movies in which the hero must defuse a bomb to save the city, you can hear the familiar “tick, tick, tick” of the bomb’s time clock. With ninja-like precision the hero cuts the yellow wire, or maybe the red wire, just in time to stop the clock, neutralize the bomb, and save the day.

Countrywide Financial Corp. founder and former chief executive Angelo Mozilo must face trial on regulators' claims he misled investors about risks tied to subprime lending, a judge ruled.

Adult child loses home to foreclosure and bankruptcy. Now lives in a fine home a month later? It is possible with an FHA loan. Adult parent over 62 can take out a reverse mortgage to purchase a home in parent name only. Adult child with family can move in and live with parent as long as parent is only one on reverse mortgage loan. It could happen.

MERSCORP, Inc. has added a new certified vendor of digital certificates for identification and signatures to its website.

A bankruptcy judge has approved a settlement between the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the now-defunct Taylor Bean & Whitaker over the ownership of more than $1 billion in disputed loans and mortgage-related assets.

Rhode Island enjoys a "really good" success rate when it comes to saving the homes of troubled borrowers, according to housing counselors speaking at the New England Mortgage Bankers Conference in Providence.