Law and regulation

Investors punished Nationstar Mortgage, sending shares down more than 10% Wednesday, down $3.15 a share to $27.96 a share, after the nonbank servicer announced a capital raise of roughly $500 million that will dilute existing shareholders.

The leader of the Senate Banking Committee said he'd rather leave Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in U.S. conservatorship than pass a bill that includes explicit government support for the housing market.

If you thought the subprime mortgage-backed security was an artifact of the past, think again. Nomura Holdings and Angel Oak Capital have a deal that may help revive the part of the market that went bust during the crisis. Their success could encourage more banks to dip their toes back into riskier mortgages.

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, announced a vote for Thursday of 11 bills aimed at lessening regulatory burden on banks by changing aspects of the Dodd-Frank Act and associated regulations.

Ocwen Financial Corp. agreed to sell servicing rights on a $25 billion portfolio of home loans and said it's out of compliance with New York Stock Exchange listing standards.

In the wake of confusion about the status of pre-approvals, an expert on compliance seeks to clarify, but exhorts the CFPB to do so, officially, "prior to the effective date of the new rule."

A new loan program will allow borrowers to put down even less than the 3% down payment mortgage programs to be offered by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. This move and others like it, while laudable, will no doubt ensure increasing default rates.

The CFPB wants to expand banks' data reporting requirements under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act. But this would impose even greater costs upon local financial institutions that are already overburdened by regulation.

The agency's interpretation of a Respa rule could put an end to the long-standing practice of mortgage lenders paying real estate agents and homebuilders to send business their way.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finalized a contentious policy Thursday allowing customers to describe their banking experiences more fully on the agency's complaint portal.

The U.S. Supreme Court Fair Labor and Standards Ruling will likely revitalize interest from the plaintiffs’ bar regarding FLSA claims against lenders, who continue to struggle with legal compliance on this issue.

From interest rate movements to new disclosures and vendor management challenges, the recent Regional Conference of Mortgage Bankers Associations touched on myriad hot-button topics the mortgage industry faces this year.

There is no guarantee that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will remain profitable in the years ahead, raising the possibility of further draws from Treasury, according to a report from the Federal Housing Finance Agency's inspector general.

A new book by the American Enterprise Institute's Peter Wallison reveals how a government push to lower credit standards brought about the housing crisis — and why a new effort to expand homeownership could inadvertently set the stage for a fresh disaster.

Lending groups are demanding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau take down its mortgage rate calculator, arguing it is providing misleading information to consumers.

Lloyd's of London and Bankers Insurance Service will now offer errors and omissions insurance for Litigation Guard, an online system which performs compliance checks for non-QM loans.

A recent Supreme Court decision means that one exemption to the Fair Labor Standards Act does not apply to mortgage salespeople, but their employers might still be able to take advantage of other exemptions.

Bipartisan legislation introduced in the Senate this week would make it easier for consumers to secure financing to purchase manufactured housing.

Ed DeMarco, the former chief regulator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, warned that efforts under the Obama Administration to expand access to credit could risk repeating mistakes that led up to the crisis.

The Federal Home Loan Bank of Indianapolis is again admitting mortgage-investment firms as members, even as the overseer of the government-chartered system of 12 regional lenders considers barring such companies.