Law and legal issues

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.

The three companies agreed to pay a total of $74 million in remediation.

The nine arraigned individuals face 136 counts of felony charges for allegedly running an advance fee mortgage relief scheme over the last decade, totaling $6 million.

The president-elect has legal backing to fire Director Kathy Kraninger thanks to a recent court ruling, but Republicans are prepared to challenge his ability to choose her successor.

The agency’s final rule modernizing the Fair Debt Collection Practice Act limits calls to seven per week, but collectors won stronger protections from liability claims and other key changes to the original proposal.

The agency’s consolidation of supervision and enforcement policy into one office could compromise the independence of those deciding when to investigate alleged wrongdoing by banks and others, critics of the move say.

The Buffalo, N.Y., bank will pay a $546,000 penalty, which will be passed on to the National Flood Insurance Program to help offset costs.

If the tally included loans with some form of payment relief, the rate would be close to 8%.

The class-action lawsuit claims the company used deceptive contracts, locking low-income Black homebuyers into disadvantageous long-term mortgages without proper lending disclosures.

A former home mortgage consultant with the company alleges she was subjected to a lower compensation structure, awards and benefits compared to her male counterparts.

Democrats Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Brian Schatz of Hawaii have sent a letter to CEO Charlie Scharf demanding a response to news reports that the bank has been placing borrowers into forbearance plans without their consent.

The mortgage REIT's external manager responded by filing a new lawsuit against it, calling the move "baseless and retaliatory."

Moody's says anchor stores like J.C. Penney and Neiman Marcus represent only a small portion of CMBS retail exposure, but their deteriorating fortunes will hasten the decline in credit quality of CMBS-held loans backed by Class "B" and "C" malls.

Mortgages taken out to fund business operations can now be modified in bankruptcy. That’s a relief to borrowers — particularly with business failures expected to increase as the pandemic drags on — but a possible headache for banks and investors that hold the loans.

The agency sought to provide certainty that most actions from the past eight years remain in effect despite the ruling that the bureau's leadership structure is unconstitutional.