Mortgage lenders may get greater clarity on the legal question of just who may sue them for alleged racial discrimination, after the Supreme Court of the United States announced recently it would take on separate lawsuits filed by the city of Miami against Bank of America and Wells Fargo. The city accused the pair of perpetrating discriminatory mortgage lending within its jurisdiction over a long period of time. The city alleged that the banks’ conduct violated the Fair Housing Act in that they intentionally discriminated against minority borrowers and that their conduct had a disparate impact, resulting in an unbalanced number of foreclosures on minority-owned properties. The precise legal issue before the high court is...
Mortgage lenders’ compliance personnel not only need to help their companies navigate all of the external regulations and laws imposed by federal and state policymakers, they also face challenges internally from representatives of various business lines in their own shops that inadvertently complicate their mission as professionals – particularly when it comes to loan originator compensation issues. “Dodging the land mines. That’s really how I think about this as a practitioner,” Loretta Salzano, founding partner at the Franzén and Salzano law firm in suburban Atlanta, said during a presentation at the American Bankers Association’s regulatory compliance conference, held last month in San Diego. She elaborated...
The Department of Housing and Urban Development last week announced stronger protections for homeowners and more favorable pricing for nonprofit participants in its Distressed Asset Stabilization Program but reactions from community and advocacy groups have been mixed. The program has been under fire because the bulk auctions of nonperforming mortgages have primarily benefited private equity firms and hedge funds, which bought the loans at a steep discount but did little to save homeowners from foreclosure or revitalize the communities where the properties backing the loans are located. HUD converted...
This attendee said one primary concern was whether nonbank Ginnie issuers would have the financial wherewithal to make advances to MBS investors in the event of another financial crisis.
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