The Internal Revenue Service has guidelines for lender cancellation or forgiveness of debt – and the FHA has none. This, however, may be somewhat more complex than it may first appear, cautioned an FHA spokesman. On the one hand, the FHA has no guidelines on the forgiveness or cancellation of mortgage debt that it insures. If the lender wants to cancel some of the borrower’s outstanding indebtedness, it does not need to ask FHA’s permission under normal circumstances, the spokesman made clear. However, the lender may not then try to recover the ...

Consumer complaints about mortgage foreclosure relief and debt management services providers were fewer in 2012 than in 2011, according to the Federal Trade Commission. In the FTC’s annual report listing the top consumer complaints for the past year, mortgage foreclosure relief and debt management dropped to #15 (33,791 complaints) in 2012 from #13 (38,140 complaints) in 2011. For the 13th year in a row, identity theft complaints topped the list, representing 18 percent of all consumer complaints. Complaints about real-estate fraud remained at #25, although fewer consumers complained about it last year (8,468) compared to ...

Fannie Mae ended 2012 with its single best quarterly and yearly profit in company history, prompting the government-sponsored enterprise to predict sustained profits “for the foreseeable future,” without taking into income any of the massive allowance it has built up related to deferred taxes. Fannie reported net income this week of $17.2 billion for 2012, compared to a net loss of $16.9 billion in 2011, with fourth quarter earnings of $7.6 billion. A year earlier, the GSE posted a $2.4 billion loss for the fourth quarter of 2011. “We had...

Most mortgage-related complaints borrowers filed with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau stemmed from problems they had making their payments, although servicers generally turned in surprisingly high and consistent response rates for timeliness and resolution, according to an analysis of the new data by Inside the CFPB, an affiliated newsletter. Among the 90,000 consumer complaints included in the vastly expanded public database, more than 50,000 – far and away the biggest share – had to do with mortgages. About 30 percent of the mortgage complaints were leveled...[Includes one data chart]

The Court of Appeals of Ohio for the Eighth District apparently has put to an end to city government lawsuits forcing banks to pay for the high costs of foreclosures, including city costs to raze or board up abandoned houses and lost taxes due to property devaluation.

Sellers of 'flow' and 'bulk' mortgage servicing rights are seeing a noticeable increase in prices for their MSRs as buyers chase both quality and bargains.

Roughly 270 depositories reported some mortgage buyback activity for 2012 but overall repurchases fell to a four-year low. Is the worst of the problem now over?

Fannie Mae may be having second thoughts about selling nonperforming loans into the secondary market where cash-rich investors are waiting with bated breath.

Nearly two months after it shut down a plan by Fannie Mae to lower the costs of so-called “force-placed” insurance, the Federal Housing Finance Agency this week unveiled for public comment a plan that would ban the payment of lucrative commissions and reinsurance fees to banks in return for their purchase of lender-placed insurance policies. Under the FHFA proposal, seller/servicers would be prohibited from accepting sales commissions or fees related to the placement of force-placed insurance where a conflict of interest exists between them and the insurance providers and their affiliates. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may be affected by such costs where a servicer pays the higher premiums and is unable to recoup the cost from the homeowner or at a foreclosure sale. Consequently, explained the FHFA, the expense is passed along to the GSEs for reimbursement.

The top Democrat on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, who is a vocal critic of the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, is calling for a hearing to dissect recent reports by the FHFA’s official watchdog that the agency has been “inadequate” in its oversight of the GSEs. The committee’s Ranking Member, Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-MD, formally requested Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-CA, to hold a hearing with FHFA Acting Director Edward DeMarco on the hot seat and FHFA Inspector General Steve Linick, to discuss a new IG audit detailing the agency’s inattention to mortgage servicing complaints. “Another week has brought another sorry report from the FHFA Inspector General finding that FHFA and the GSEs have failed to take seriously their obligations to protect consumers,” said Cummings.