Law and regulation

Investor-owned ratings agencies would send a message to mutual fund shareholders, retirement plan participants and other investors that steps have been taken to avoid repeating the inaccurate ratings that contributed so heavily to the financial crisis.

Fannie Mae will pay the Treasury Department $1.8 billion after reporting net income of $1.9 billion for the first quarter.

Ocwen Financial failed a test to determine whether it had notified borrowers of missing or incomplete documents for loan modifications in a timely manner, according to the national mortgage settlement monitor.

Implementing minimum requirements for appraisal management companies raise opportunities for varied and potentially inconsistent requirements state-by-state.

Wholesale lenders and their brokers are finding preparing for the new mortgage disclosures that take effect in August especially tricky.

The CFPB found that more than 26 million consumers are effectively "credit invisible" because they have no credit record and another 19 million are "unscored" because they have an insufficient or stale credit history. But it's unclear how the CFPB plans to tackle the issue.

President Obama's administration has joined Democratic and Republican lawmakers in attacking potential raises for the top executives of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The silver lining of the market crash was a unique opportunity for non-legislative reform that would not have otherwise come to bear.

Two House Financial Services Committee members introduced a bipartisan bill late last week that is designed to give lenders breathing room when new disclosure rules go into effect on Aug. 1.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has rescinded a policy designed to help certain widowed spouses of reverse mortgage borrowers avoid foreclosure.

The Federal Housing Administration Single Family Housing Policy Handbook will now come into effect on Sept. 14, the Department of Housing and Urban Development announced Friday.

Banks want all loans held in portfolio to be classified as ultrasafe regardless of the underwriting characteristics or of a bank's asset size. But consumer activists and independent mortgage lenders are raising red flags ahead of possible Senate Banking action.

Ellie Mae reported net income of $3.6 million for the first quarter, up 350% from the same period a year ago.

WASHINGTON — Federal banking regulators are putting pressure on a dozen or more states to begin regulating appraisal management companies within their borders.

The SAFE Transitional License Act would allow registered lending officers to work at independent mortgage banks for 120 days while they complete state testing and licensing requirements.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could require an additional bailout of as much as $157.3 billion in a deep recession, according to the results of stress tests released by the regulator for the U.S.-owned companies.

Housing and the mortgage industry are every bit as important to the U.S. as the national transportation or healthcare systems.

A mortgage title company and a handful of individuals are being sued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Maryland Attorney General related to an alleged mortgage kickback scheme with banks such as Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase.

A House subcommittee approved a bill Wednesday that would redirect money from an affordable housing fund that receives money from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into another program run by HUD.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New York Superintendent of Financial Services Benjamin Lawsky today proposed new regulations for the title insurance industry, including restrictions on meal and entertainment expenses.