Law and regulation

While there are compliant ways to institute these plans, many employers make the mistake of having several "buckets" that vary by a few basis points.

U.S. Court puts pressure on HUD to help surviving spouses stay in their homes.

Perpetrators fraudulently acquired close to 40 homes, and used at least one to grow marijuana when it became vacant.

The Obama administration is urging housing advocates to stand behind legislation to overhaul the housing finance market, ahead of a Senate Banking Committee vote scheduled for the end of April.

As drafted, the Johnson-Crapo bill would allow big banks to originate, aggregate, and guarantee mortgages. Small lenders worry such vertically integrated companies could price them out of the business.

As the rest of the housing industry recovers, a little-known firm with a key role in mortgage finance remains stuck in limbo, wrestling with regulators, lawsuits and the departures of senior employees.

Lenders and Realtors are hailing a new law that delays flood insurance premium increases, but unless the government takes actuarially prudent measures, rising sea levels could cost taxpayers dearly.

The Senate Banking Committee is scheduled to vote on its bill to overhaul the mortgage finance market on April 29, but questions are now being raised about whether that date will slip, as supporters struggle to secure additional votes.

The rock and hard place between which lenders have found themselves in regard to the use of hiring screens and disparate impact (in hiring) just got a bit softer.

People who lack a credit or work history in the United States may have trouble getting a mortgage under the new qualified-mortgage rule, bankers say. A number of immigrants are self-employed, which makes it even harder to qualify.

But be aware of the business and regulatory risks associated with closing loans in your own name.

Commissioner Carole Galante says the Federal Housing Administration's insurance fund must be strengthened before insurance premiums can be reduced, but outlined alternatives to improve credit availability.

everyone, including the underwriter, has an impact on customer experience and denying that means you are no closer to addressing it.

The USDA's Rural Housing Service is seeking congressional approve for a lender-funded update to its loan-guarantee program that will speed up loan processing.

Freddie Mac will soon add another automated review on the appraisal reports it receives through the Uniform Collateral Data Portal.

The homebuilder's mortgage unit, which mostly serves new homebuyers, has acquired retail originator Pinnacle Mortgage as part of an effort to spread the mounting costs of compliance over more loans.

Disclosing loan-level data is crucial to rebuilding investor confidence in mortgage-backed securities. It also introduces the risk of compromising borrowers' personal information.

CoreLogic has agreed to add Equifax's the Work Number platform to Credco, its verification-of-employment service.

Stewart Title Co. has acquired quality control firm Wetzel Trott in a move to expand its origination and servicing audit and due diligence services.

After a year in which bankers have voiced steady opposition to the qualified mortgage rule, more than a third now say they will make non-QM loans in targeted markets, a major reversal from the industry's past stance.