Lenders feeling oppressed by the onslaught of new mortgage regulations going into effect in January 2014 may have an unlikely ally: the agency that unleashed all the new rules. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau this week announced several initiatives to help lenders comply with the new ability-to-repay and mortgage servicing rules, two of the most complex and far-reaching regulations. The agency said it will publish...

A new final rule from the Department of Housing and Urban Development may make it harder for lenders to defend against allegations of racially discriminatory policies and even more difficult to structure an effective compliance program under the Fair Housing Act, according to legal experts. Issued last week, the rule provides that HUD or a private plaintiff can establish a so-called disparate-impact liability under the FHAct, even if there is no intent to discriminate. The agency said the rule establishes no new law – since HUD and appellate courts have upheld the disparate impact theory in fair housing cases for decades – and aims to standardize the minor variations for determining liability under the statute. The rule establishes...

With the White House budget delayed until sometime in March, there is renewed speculation that the Department of Housing and Urban Development will not ask for a draw from the Treasury Department to bolster the cash-starved Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund of the FHA. In testimony this week before the House Financial Services Committee FHA Commissioner Carol Galante said underwriting changes and premium hikes have decreased the likelihood that the MMI will request additional cash. But she could not say for certain, noting that if a draw is needed it will not come until the end of fiscal 2013. Mortgage insurance professionals and consulting firms that work on HUD issues have estimated...

President Obama, during his State of the Union address, urged Congress to get the HARP 3.0 refinancing program off the ground.

The CFPB said mortgage lenders can ask the agency "important" interpretation questions on the many rules that it finalized this year.

The CFPB has warned the mortgage banking industry that it should pay close attention to loss mitigation work when servicing rights are transferred.

FHA single-family production rose 22.3 percent in 2012, but another increase in the mortgage insurance premiums will likely accelerate the program’s three-year decline in market share.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency this week killed a plan being heavily promoted by Fannie Mae to reduce force-placed insurance rates.

Is PennyMac Financial Services, which just filed for an IPO, really part of PNC?

HUD has released its long-awaited “disparate impact” final rule, sending notification to the industry that housing policies and practices can be determined to be discriminatory not simply through their intent, but also by their effect.