The outgoing president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City turned some heads this week when he declared that the nation’s largest banks and recipients of federal bailout funds should be re-branded as government-sponsored enterprises and their lending activities should be curtailed accordingly. Thomas Hoenig reportedly told...

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 draft servicing settlement proposed by some state attorneys general would prove counterproductive because it would drive up defaults and foreclosure costs and would not likely provide broad or lasting benefits, according to a study released this week. Researchers at Kansas State University, Louisiana State University and the National Bureau of Economic Research said...

Mortgage lenders and compliance experts are deeply concerned about the recently published risk-retention proposal and its impact on the availability of credit for eligible borrowers as well as the potential fair lending issues it may raise. Industry trade groups are especially worried about...

Federally regulated banks and credit unions favor Republican-backed legislation that would install a commission, instead of a single director, to call the shots at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The majority of witnesses at a recent hearing called by the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit expressed their support for...

A conflict of interest exists if an employee of a federal credit union disapproves member loans and then refers them to a mortgage banker that pays for such referrals, according to the National Credit Union Administration. Not only would there be a potential violation of the NCUA’s lending policy but the referral arrangements may also violate...

The Federal Reserve Board’s loan originator compensation rule is finally in effect after lawsuits filed by mortgage broker trade groups failed to stop the rule in its tracks. In a terse, one-page decision, the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit lifted a temporary stay order against...

Illinois. The Division of Banking has been receiving inquiries regarding a number of mortgage companies that are still in the process of renewing their Illinois residential mortgage licenses for calendar year 2011 through the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry. The issue is that...

Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council. Revised Interagency Exam Procedures for Regulation Z (TILA). Notwithstanding court petitions seeking to stop the implementation of a new loan originator compensation rule, the Federal Reserve Board announced revised examination procedures that will ensure...

The potential shutdown of the federal government at the end of this week could have sudden and detrimental effects on FHA borrowers and lenders, although the situation was still very much in flux as Friday’s midnight deadline rapidly approached. “This is the worst time to introduce this uncertainty into...