Overtime pay for underwriters will remain a focus of litigation because courts are split on the issue, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Walter said it will continue to seek appropriate amendments and waivers...

According to the offering circular, the Ginnie receivables total $1.40 billion and carry an overall delinquency ratio of 6.60 percent.

The deal was negotiated from a previous five-year contract that was awarded to VRM…

Time to audit your closing agents?

Mortgage compliance experts are cautioning FHA servicers to tread carefully around loss mitigation, annual certifications and reverse mortgages, which could be a potential minefield for False Claims Act lawsuits. While FHA lenders’ exposure to FCA risk remains, the Department of Justice and the Department of Housing and Urban Development have increased their scrutiny of FHA servicing practices for potential violations, according to Phil Schulman and Krista Cooley, both partners in Mayer Brown’s Washington office. In a recent podcast, Schulman warned of increasing DOJ and HUD scrutiny of FHA servicing practices in the last 18 months, a worrisome shift from the origination side, which has seen an estimated $5 billion in settlements and penalties since 2011 for violations of the FCA and the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act. Since 2008, mortgagees participating in ...

A resolution of the charges against Ocwen Financial brought by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and state regulators is expected to be “protracted,” according to industry analysts. In April, the CFPB and state regulators took a number of actions against the nonbank, alleging servicing- and lending-related violations. Ocwen is appealing the findings. The legal issues prompted mixed reactions from rating services. Fitch Ratings affirmed its B- issuer-default rating for ...

The prepayment rate on vintage jumbo mortgages serviced by Wells Fargo is outpacing the industry average by a wide margin, according to an analysis by Bank of America Merrill Lynch. A lower level of loan modifications by Wells appears to be driving the trend. BAML noted that prepayment rates on jumbo mortgages in vintage non-agency mortgage-backed securities have followed a stable trend in the last three years. However, since 2013, Wells-serviced jumbo fixed-rate ...

Efforts in the Senate to reform the government-sponsored enterprises appear likely to include a government guarantee for whatever replaces the current system involving Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. “It seems to me that the consolidation is coming around the fact that we do need to have an explicit [catastrophic] guarantee,” said Sen. Bob Corker, R-TN. “We need to acknowledge that it’s going to be there.” He made the statement last week at a hearing on housing-finance reform by the ...

Moody’s Investors Service increased its assessment of Wells Fargo’s jumbo-mortgage property valuation practices from above average to strong. The rating service said the improvement was due to Wells no longer having an ownership interest in one of the appraisal management companies used by the bank. “During the prior review, Wells had an equity interest in an AMC which received approximately 90 percent of the appraisal orders,” Moody’s said ... [Includes two briefs]