The U.S. Bankruptcy Trustee, which is part of the Department of Justice, is seeking authority from a Connecticut bankruptcy court to investigate apparent document forgeries and fabrications that appeared mysteriously in a foreclosure case. Tracy Hope Davis, U.S. Trustee for Region 2, has filed...

House Republican leaders have started to make good on a post-election promise to deconstruct the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection. Rep. Randy Neugebauer, R-TX, chairman of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, has requested...

The Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection is expected to hire a private firm to develop a new, simplified form integrating mortgage disclosures required under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act and the Truth in Lending Act. About 80 percent of disclosures mandated by both TILA and RESPA will be whittled...

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...