Law and regulation

The Government Accountability Office urged the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and Federal Reserve Board to monitor how servicers were carrying out foreclosure prevention steps in amended consent orders.

The Senate Banking Committee will delay a vote on its highly anticipated legislation to overhaul the housing finance market, a Senate aide confirmed Tuesday morning, just hours before the markup was scheduled to begin.

The CFPB last week made news by publicly recognizing that borrowers felt overwhelmed in regard to the closing process.

Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and David Vitter, R-La., filed a handful of "too big to fail" amendments Friday to a pending Senate Banking Committee bill to overhaul the housing finance market.

Senate Banking Committee leaders want to win as much support as possible for their housing finance reform legislation before a panel vote on Tuesday, but it's possible that a failure to win over certain members could ultimately assist their cause.

U.S. prosecutors are seeking more than $13 billion from Bank of America to resolve federal and state investigations of the lender’s sale of bonds backed by home loans in the run-up to the 2008 financial crisis.

Law enforcement agencies are contacting state licensing agencies if someone who is regulated has gotten arrested.

The Senate Banking Committee is scheduled to proceed Tuesday with a highly anticipated vote on a bill to overhaul the housing finance market.

Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., is urging the House Committee on Oversight and Reform to investigate why regulators abruptly ended the independent foreclosure review and settled with banks last year.

A key point of contention is the 10 basis point user fee that the proposed Federal Mortgage Insurance Corp. would charge to support affordable housing efforts.

By addressing concerns about how distressed loans are resolved, banks and non-banks alike can make a virtue out of necessity and regain the trust of policy makers and the public.

A coalition of more than two dozen conservative groups sent a letter to members of the Senate Banking Committee Wednesday, urging them to vote against a major bill to overhaul the housing finance market.

Brokers of servicing rights say the overall market remains robust, despite suggestions by Ocwen's William Erbey last week that trades had ground to a halt. Trading of seriously delinquent portfolios has slowed on concerns about increased liability.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is expected to change how fees are defined for a key test to determine if a loan is a "qualified mortgage," according to observers.

The Senate GSE reform bill may bloat the bureaucracy, encourage risky behavior and expose taxpayers to losses, without sufficient support for affordable housing. That could still be better than nothing.

Regulator Benjamin Lawsky is concerned that Hubzu, a website run by Ocwen's Alitsource affiliate, charges inflated fees "through conflicted business relationships" at the expense of mortgage investors and strapped homeowners.

A powerful group of shareholders is amplifying attacks on housing finance reform legislation as they await resolution of a major legal battle, attempting to slow momentum on the bill before it likely passes the Senate Banking Committee.

Mortgage bondholders have long complained to regulators that the national mortgage settlement gave large bank servicers credit for principal reductions and loan modifications they did not pay for themselves.

The proposed Small Lender Mutual cooperative would be expensive for small firms to capitalize, and its securities may get inferior pricing compared to those issued by large banks and nonbanks.

Property-tax collections are rising at the fastest pace since the housing market crash sent government revenue plunging, helping end an era of local budget cuts.