Law and legal issues

The bureau said two rules related to communications with debtors will go into effect as originally planned on Nov. 30. The agency had previously proposed an extension to consider consumer advocates' concerns about the regulations.

A three-judge panel determined that a lower-court ruling against two law firms specializing in mortgage repair had used the wrong measure to calculate restitution.

Collectors are mulling a procedural overhaul after a three-judge panel said the practice of using vendors to inform consumers about outstanding debts is illegal. The case may also complicate the CFPB's upcoming rule on electronic messaging.

Less than two years after shutting down its biggest business amid fraud allegations, the Michigan company has sold branches, settled a shareholder lawsuit and returned to profitability under turnaround specialist Thomas O’Brien.

The defendants face 133 felony counts that include allegedly stealing identities to commit mortgage fraud between 2014 and 2020, resulting in the theft of $15 million.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau disputes a district court ruling that misconduct claims against the company were already covered by a previous settlement.

The delinquency rate on regional mall commercial mortgage-backed securities was 22.9% in February, the highest of any real estate category, according to Moody’s

Federal Savings Bank, the Chicago bank that lent millions of dollars to Paul Manafort under its founder and former longtime CEO, has now sued the former Trump campaign chairman and his wife, seeking to foreclose upon his mansion in the Hamptons.

The decision provides more clarity to noteholders in the state about when the six-year statute of limitations to bring a foreclosure action begins.

The Federal Reserve warned of significant risks of business bankruptcies and steep drops in commercial real estate prices in a report published on Friday.

A federal judge denied the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's motion to have the case thrown out, saying concerns about the agency's rulemaking process to reform the Community Reinvestment Act have merit.

The company also reported a large fourth-quarter loss that reflected a significant increase in its loan-loss provision.

The CFPB’s allegations are similar to unresolved accusations Connecticut first levied against the company in 2018.

The new complaint filed by the lender in the state’s Superior Court is aimed at compelling a January decision on the 2018 allegations.

The complaint unsealed Monday alleges three individuals and several companies they owned or controlled engaged in False Claims Act violations involving short sales of properties that had Federal Housing Administration-insured mortgages.

The CFPB issued two rulemakings in 2020 that the financial services industry and consumer advocates hoped would finally clarify key issues over how collectors contact debtors and deal with legacy debts. But both sides want the incoming Biden administration to make further changes.

A real estate firm focused on gentrifying neighborhoods is showing cracks after a group of its apartment buildings in New York’s Upper West Side and Harlem filed for bankruptcy.

The three-year loan will boost the hotel-centered REIT's dwindling cash reserves battered by the COVID-19 global impact on travel.

The agency's rule outlines steps collectors must take to inform consumers about an outstanding debt, and prohibits companies from pursuing lawsuits after a statute of limitations has ended.

If CMBS litigation picks up in earnest in the aftermath of the pandemic, lessons gleaned from over a decade of RMBS litigation could pay dividends, Bilzen Sumberg lawyers Philip Stein and Kenneth Duvall say.