Some imprecise language in last year’s financial reform legislation has thrust the Federal Reserve into a quandary on how best to define “qualified mortgage” under the new law, according to some top industry lawyers and market analysts...

Last week’s ground-breaking settlements between U.S. bank regulators and many of the top mortgage servicers in the country may bring some certainty to the industry about the ultimate resolution of the foreclosure crisis still gripping parts of the nation, but it’s also likely to lead to higher costs and more labor-intensive compliance efforts, according to a consensus of industry analysts...

Two of the mortgage lending industry’s top service provides, Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems and Lender Processing Services, will not be continuing business as usual, now that federal banking regulators have announced consent orders with the two firms that call for a substantial amount of remediation of significant institutional weaknesses...

Judge Rya Zobel of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts last week granted Bank of America’s motion for an extension of time to respond to the call for injunctive relief from a group of BofA homeowners that asked the court to dismiss the bank’s foreclosures on their homes...

Philadelphia-based Shaffer & Gaier, a consumer protection law firm, has been racking up a series of foreclosure dismissals against some of the biggest mortgage lenders in the land lately, including Bank of America, Citibank, Chase Home Finance and, most recently, U.S. Bank...

The Seattle-based law firm Keller Rohrback has begun beating the bushes for borrowers who were obligated to accept forced-placed insurance on their mortgages by Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase or other top servicers in the country...

Three industry groups are asking federal regulators to provide some flexibility for lenders in complying with Regulation B adverse action notices as they would be amended under a proposed rule issued at the end of February by the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Trade Commission...

Arizona. Foreclosure documentation standards legislation has been introduced that would require servicers to ensure that all foreclosure documents filed or recorded are accurate, verified or acknowledged by an individual with personal knowledge of the information contained in the documents (HB 2383)...

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Joint enforcement effort. Last week, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Presidential Initiative Working Group of the National Association of Attorneys General announced a cooperative enforcement agreement to jointly target abusive financial services practices, including those relating to mortgages...