Compliance

If the Federal Housing Administration wishes to take seriously the concerns lenders have about the definition of a loan error, demonstrating flexibility in crafting and revising its guidelines is a good place to start.

The stock price of CBL & Associates Properties Inc. sank 13% in early trading after a published report said the U.S. retail landlord is being investigated for accounting fraud.

FHFA Director Mel Watt also reiterated concerns regarding insurance companies and large bank members, saying that some Home Loan Banks have large exposures to a few individual members.

WASHINGTON — The House passed a bill by a voice vote Monday that will make it easier for mortgage originators to take a new job across state lines or move from a federally regulated bank to a nonbank lending shop.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating whether Deutsche Bank AG inflated the value of securities in its mortgage-bond trading business and masked losses around 2013, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Bank of America Corp.’s Countrywide Financial unit was exonerated of allegations that it sold defective residential mortgage loans to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with an appeals court throwing out a judgment against the bank of more than $1.2 billion.

Lenders that sell both forward and reverse mortgages must carefully consider how their products are offered to older borrowers to avoid confusion that could lead to accusations of financial abuse.

Presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton appears likely to embrace a recent plan to merge Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into a single government corporation if she wins the White House.

Two recent court rulings affirmed that lenders can enforce electronically signed and transferred notes, laying important groundwork for wider adoption of electronic mortgage technology that could improve the customer experience for borrowers and save lenders and servicers a bundle.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on Thursday won the right to pursue a lawsuit against several large financial institutions accused of selling tainted mortgage securities to a company that has since failed.

From the Common Security Platform and Freddie Mac loan sales to new accounting rules and what direction mortgage rates are headed, there was plenty to debate during this week's MBA Secondary Conference in New York.

The Justice Department filed suit Thursday against Guild Mortgage, arguing the firm violated the False Claims Act by improperly originating and underwriting Federal Housing Administration loans.

The experience of updating systems and overhauling workflows that mortgage lenders gleaned from implementing the TILA-RESPA integrated disclosures could prove useful to portfolio lenders as they implement a similarly complex accounting rule for reporting credit losses.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development issued a proposal Wednesday to codify recent changes to its reverse mortgage program and to provide additional protections for seniors, including a cap on annual interest rate increases.

New York's financial regulator has issued subpoenas to two companies with ties to Apollo Global Management as part of an inquiry into housing transactions for low-income buyers.

The June 25 launch, which will provide lenders with much more information about a borrower's credit history, will mark the first widespread use of trended data in the mortgage industry.

The government-sponsored enterprises' risk-sharing deals are being hailed as an innovative approach for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to offload credit exposure to private markets. But their growing popularity is raising questions about how these transactions should be reported in financial statements.

Despite not taking effect until well over a year from now, changes to the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act are already becoming a source of concern for lenders, QuestSoft found in its annual compliance survey.

Redwood Trust is broadening what kinds of prime jumbo mortgages it will accept and its appetite for non-qualified mortgages.

Credit access and homeownership for low- to moderate-income families are under siege by the DOJ's overuse of the False Claims Act, as lenders worried about punitive damages discontinue Federal Housing Administration loan programs.