One of the emerging compliance priorities for mortgage lenders will be to synchronize as much as possible their adoption of separate rules for “qualified mortgages” and “qualified residential mortgages” developed by federal regulators following the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Adding to the challenge is...

The American Guild of Appraisers met with Rep. Barney Frank, D-MA, on April 14 to ask for his help in resolving the guild’s concerns with the Federal Reserve Board’s interim final rule on appraiser independence and reasonable and customary fees, which was implemented on the first of the month...

The Department of Housing and Urban Development clearly spelled out that lenders must be discrete in their use of the FHA “Approved Lending Institution” insignia and defined other specific regulations relating to logo use in a letter to lenders this week. Improper use of HUD or FHA logos can result...

California is the biggest beneficiary of the federal government’s massive footprint in the single-family mortgage market, accounting for 19.9 percent of all loans securitized by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae during the first quarter of 2011. A new analysis based on the Inside Mortgage Finance MBS Database reveals...[Includes one data chart]

Following last week’s lengthy and at times contentious markup session where then House Financial Services Capital Markets and GSE Subcommittee pushed through a package of eight bills to bolster oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, industry observers are still working to get their arms around...

Newly issued guidance from the Federal Housing Finance Agency requires Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks to report any fraudulent financial instruments that they purchased or sold. but the guidance also requires Fannie and Freddie to take the extra step of submitting monthly fraud reports to...

A recent survey by the New York-based Reputation Institute found that Freddie Mac is the least reputable company to do business with, while fellow GSE Fannie Mae was named the third least reputable company, but an expert advised that it’s not the end of the world for publicity-challenged companies. The private consulting firm conducted...

The Federal Housing Finance Agency last week approved some updates to Fannie Mae’s corporate performance goals which the company will use to determine executive compensation. Fannie’s newly approved 2011 corporate goals will be the barometer by which performance will be measured for the purposes of the first installment of the...

Implementing a broad range of procedural changes and picking through two years’ worth of foreclosure activity are expected to impose a significant expense on mortgage servicers that agreed to consent orders with federal regulators this week, but industry experts say the threat of penalties and remedial costs appears...[Includes one graph]

The current method of paying servicers could stand to be improved, but regulators and secondary market investors need to bear in mind that change would have ripple effects throughout the industry, according to a new analysis by Mortgage Industry Advisory Corp., a consulting firm based in New York. “Changing the servicing fee from its current form may...