The mortgage financing industry will push harder in 2011 for less stringent risk-retention regulations, harmonized mortgage disclosures and certain regulatory relief issues facing industry participants. Rulemakings, mostly implementing provisions in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, must not...

Maryland. Fannie Mae has announced an increase in attorney’s fees for non-judicial foreclosures for properties located in Maryland. For loans referred to an attorney on or after Feb. 1, the maximum allowable attorney’s fees for legal work related to non-judicial foreclosures will...

Federal Housing Administration Anti-Flipping Waiver Extended. The FHA has extended its temporary anti-flipping waiver to hasten the resale of foreclosed homes in neighborhoods with high foreclosure rates. With certain exceptions, current FHA regulation prohibits insuring a mortgage on a home owned by the seller for less than 90 days. Early last year, the FHA temporarily set...

California remained the biggest source of new single-family mortgages for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during 2010, according to a new special report, GSE Market Profile: 2010, from Inside Mortgage Finance Publications. A total of $223.7 billion of home loans on California properties were securitized by the two GSEs, accounting for... [Includes one data chart]

Faced with their toughest challenges, mortgage servicers must realign and strengthen their quality and risk control if they are to survive the current crisis and thrive in the future, according to a recent analysis of the servicing industry by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Soon, oversight of the mortgage servicing industry will be...

The Mortgage Bankers Association has filed suit in federal court in Washington, DC, to overturn a controversial rule interpretation on overtime for mortgage loan officers issued by the Department of Labor last year. The lawsuit challenges procedures the DOL followed...

State courts are fixing the foreclosure mess with tough measures, including a requirement for lawyers, lenders and service providers in foreclosure cases to vouch for the accuracy of documents they submit. In New Jersey, Chief Justice Stuart Rabner announced...

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) handed the mortgage industry something to crow about regarding the validity of mortgage loan assignments in foreclosure cases – which, ironically, may not amount to a hill of beans beyond the Bay State, according to compliance experts. Contrary to claims of consumer victory and negative implications for the mortgage industry, the SJC in U.S. Bank National Association v. Ibanez held...

In a rare show of solidarity, industry and community groups urged federal risk-retention rulemakers not to settle for a narrow definition of “qualified residential mortgage.” A coalition of consumer advocates and real estate industry trade associations warned...

Creditors obliged to provide consumers notice if offered a loan with terms less favorable than those offered to less risky consumers have two alternative methods for determining which consumers must receive notice. These two methods are discussed...