Compliance

CoreLogic and Blueberry Systems have formed a partnership to offer fraud prevention technology to lenders and servicers.

FACTS On August 30, 2010 JOSEPH ANTHONY VELTRE, 68, of Orange, Calif., was sentenced to 18 years in prison after pleading guilty to stealing more than $2.6 million from investors in a Ponzi and real estate fraud scheme. He preyed on mostly elderly investors, soliciting their money for borrowers seeking funds from non-bank lenders.

Grapevine users discuss the repercussions of the Home Valuation Code of Conduct rules. One reader is encouraging others to sign a petition to reverse HVCC because, he says, "it is bad for the market."

Giuseppe Cracchiolo, 60 of Romeo, Mich., pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Paul D. Borman to “a federal information” that charges him with conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

A 10-count federal indictment unsealed in Salt Lake City charges Christopher D. Hales, 29, of Midvale, with mail, wire and bank fraud and with money laundering in connection with an alleged mortgage fraud scheme.

The HUD Inspector General's office, in a new report, slams Webster Bank, Waterbury, Conn., for some of its FHA underwriting practices, saying the deficiencies could cost the government insurer upwards of $500,000 on six loans.

Steve Archambault, Democratic candidate for Attorney General recently unveiled a six point plan to combat mortgage fraud and protect Rhode Island consumers.

Once upon a time there was a rug merchant who saw that his most beautiful carpet had a large bump in its center. He stepped on the bump to flatten it out—and succeeded. But the bump reappeared in a new spot not far away.

Texas attorney general Greg Abbott has charged Coppell-based American Home Mortgage Servicing Inc., the nation's largest independent subprime servicer, with allegedly using illegal debt collection tactics and improperly misleading struggling homeowners.

A cease-and-desist order has been issued by the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance to The Pinnacle Division LLC, formerly known as MMS Holdings LLC, and doing business as The Sly Team and www.theslyteam.com, located in Atlanta.

Even if you have not experienced this for yourself, nearly everyone has heard horror stories from a blind date. They have become a cultural archetype in every way. You go in expecting young, athletic, charming and too often, find yourself grappling with the liberal application of those words. Growing up in the mortgage industry over the last 20 years, I can attest that a few parallels exist here. What you thought was a great deal for the bank, that solid customer with the high FICO score, great employment, and low debt ratios turns out to be a house of cards built on shifting sands, and the "perfect match" ends in default and risk.

THE NUMBER OF NEWLY DELINQUENT HOME LOANS HAS RISEN FOR TWO STRAIGHT QUARTERS in what could foreshadow another surge in unemployment-related foreclosures.

Everyone knows that short sales have gone through the roof, tripling over the last couple of years and providing more grist to the unlikely alliances of lenders and Realtors that have sprung up to handle them.

To elaborate further on recent HUD withdrawals of mortgagee approvals: Approval of a mortgagee by HUD/FHA to participate in FHA mortgage insurance programs includes an Origination Approval Agreement between HUD and the mortgagee. Under the Agreement the mortgagee is authorized to originate single-family mortgage loans and submit them to FHA for insurance endorsement.

Mortgage fraud is not going away any time soon. The FBI has been working with bureaus of investigation in states that recently passed residential mortgage fraud acts to stay abreast of the latest fraud tactics.

Lender Processing Services Inc. has formed a strategic partners group to establish a network of default-related service providers.

According to North Carolina attorney general Roy Cooper, a mortgage lender will pay $4.5 million for its role in a scheme to sign consumers to loans they couldn't afford on overpriced modular and manufactured homes.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development is charging a Chicago couple, their real estate agent and a real estate broker with refusing to sell a home listed for $1.8 million to a couple because of their race, in violation of the Fair Housing Act.

SMART Servicing, LLC, an affiliate of Steel Mountain Capital Management, is offering new software that provides the residential mortgage loan market with loan level information designed to help users control loss severity.

Bank of America said it completed nearly 4,100 permanent HAMP modifications in July, bringing the total number of B of A customers that have received modifications under the government program to 76,300.