Law and legal issues

A federal appeals court in Texas agreed with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac shareholders that the FHFA, led by a single director, violates the separation of powers.

A more conservative court will be likelier to rule favorably on issues ranging from the deference for regulatory agencies to what constitutes a fair-lending violation.

Leandra English, who sued President Trump and Mick Mulvaney last year claiming to be the rightful director of the CFPB, said Friday that she plans to resign and drop the litigation.

Greg Englesbe resigned as CEO of New Jersey lender E Mortgage Management after a jury awarded $3 million to a woman who accused Englesbe of injuring her when he grabbed and forcibly kissed her at a Philadelphia restaurant.

A server at a Philadelphia restaurant was awarded $3 million by a jury after allegedly being injured by the CEO of a mortgage lender who attempted to forcibly kiss her.

Acting CFPB Director Mick Mulvaney wrote in a two-paragraph filing that the Mount Laurel, N.J., company did not violate the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act.

Royal Bank of Scotland said it reached a tentative agreement to pay a $4.9 billion penalty to resolve a long-running U.S. probe into its packaging and sale of mortgage-backed securities before the 2008 financial crisis.

Wells Fargo must pay $97 million to home mortgage consultants and private mortgage bankers in California who didn't get the breaks they were entitled to under the state's stringent labor laws.

CEO Tim Sloan and board chair Elizabeth Duke fielded tough questions Tuesday on everything from the embattled bank’s culture to its ties to the private prison industry.

A class action filed last week alleges that Renovate America and Renew Financial failed to provide consumer protections promised to L.A. County, that this constitutes elder abuse, and the county is complicit.

A panel of judges remained skeptical of claims by Leandra English, deputy director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, that she is the rightful head of the agency. But they didn’t sound convinced that current acting Director Mick Mulvaney is, either.

Banks have not yet finished with the wave of lawsuits stemming from the financial crisis. There are ways they can better ward off those threats next time around.

The investigation targeted 36 residential mortgage-backed securities deals involving $31 billion worth of loans, more than half of which defaulted, according to the Justice Department.

Banks say that an appeals court’s decision to ease restrictions will allow them to warn customers more easily when loans are past due or accounts have been compromised. But consumer groups argue that the decision gives financial firms license to market their products more aggressively and could lead to more harassing phone calls over unpaid debts.

Quicken Loans affiliate Amrock Inc. is appealing a jury verdict ordering it to pay $706.2 million to analytics company HouseCanary in a legal dispute over a software licensing agreement.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finalized a rule on Thursday that gives mortgage servicers more latitude in sending periodic statements to borrowers in bankruptcy.

There's been a legislative bottleneck since the the crisis-era law went into effect, but Congress has moved forward on a handful of significant changes.

The war of words between acting Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Mick Mulvaney and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., the agency's architect, is escalating.

The Puerto Rico-based bank failed in 2015. The FDIC, its receiver, is seeking unspecified economic and punitive damages from 16 lenders, including Bank of America, Barclays and Credit Suisse.

Ditech Holding Corp. promoted Jeffrey Baker to interim CEO of the company, replacing Anthony Renzi who left the company.