Enforcement

Ocwen Financial Corp. has gotten the go-ahead to acquire PHH Mortgage Corp., subject to revised New York restrictions on acquisitions of mortgage servicing rights, and other conditions imposed by the state.

1st Alliance Lending plans to cut up to 35 employees in Connecticut and terminate efforts to expand its East Hartford headquarters in order to prepare for an expected increase in regulatory costs.

Though Acting CFPB Director Mick Mulvaney tried unsuccessfully to strip the agency's fair lending office of its enforcement powers earlier this year, he insisted this week that the bureau "is still in the fair lending business."

Kathy Kraninger has been tight-lipped about her plans for the consumer bureau, but some point to signs that she could curb the agency's power by reducing staff and other costs.

A 75-year-old Florida real estate developer was sentenced to six months in prison after admitting he lied to banks to keep money flowing so he wasn't forced to scuttle an oceanfront hotel and condominium in Vero Beach.

Several states pledged to compensate for a slowdown in enforcement at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau under Mick Mulvaney, but their efforts have been complicated by tight budgets and doubts over whether such initiatives are necessary.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development took the very rare step of filing a secretary-initiated fair housing complaint — only three were made in the last two fiscal years — against Facebook.

The U.S. is siding with fair housing groups that claim Facebook's ad targeting tools permit discrimination based on sex, religion, familial status and national origin.

The Fed's order targets affidavits prepared by employees of CitiFinancial in connection with the company's exiting the mortgage servicing business.

Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, said it is hard to imagine how Wells Fargo's $8 million remediation plan would correct a mistake that led to 400 wrongful foreclosures.

Multiple agencies are looking into its purchase of certain credits tied to low-income housing developments, the bank said in a securities filing Friday.

The agreement was likely the last of the big cases to be cleared by the Justice Department, and Wells paid less than its peers did to resolve the lingering mortgage probes stemming from the meltdown.

Kraninger, a senior official at the Office of Management and Budget, has been heavily criticized by Democrats on the panel over her ties to the administration's family-separation policy at the border.

The five-year legal odyssey of former Jefferies Group managing director Jesse Litvak, the first person charged in a federal crackdown on questionable bond-trading tactics, came to an end as prosecutors said they don't intend to try him a third time.

A ruling involving a Cleveland law firm casts doubt on CFPB claims that attorneys misrepresent their role to consumers.

Servicers and MSR investors face increased regulation and oversight as nearly all states now require some form of licensing for firms responsible for mortgage collections.

The number of nonbank lenders and servicers that did not comply with the California Residential Mortgage Lending Act Annual Report requirements grew this year, prompting a reprimand and warning of penalties from the commissioner of the state's Department of Business Oversight.

The son of a Lake Worth, Fla., man arrested this month in an alleged rent-fraud scam is wanted for acting as an accomplice in the crime, the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office said.

Ocwen Financial is able to keep the answers to questions from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau involving the improper handling of escrow accounts confidential, a federal magistrate ruled.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has dropped its investigation into allegations that Zillow Group Inc. violated Section 8 of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act.