FIRREA – ushered in during the nation’s savings and loan crisis – has four notable elements which make it an attractive path to prosecution...

HUD's Castro noted that the VA program limits its loan guarantee to a maximum of 25 percent, leaving many lenders exposed and reluctant to offer VA-guaranteed loans.

One mortgage executive added: “Watt is trying to do the right thing, but I’m not sure he will get there. It’s good to see the government admit that the pendulum went too far.”

Non-agency MBS sponsors will be allowed to retain the risk portion on vertical or horizontal tranches of the security or a combination of the two.

In defining misrepresentations, FHFA will set a minimum number of loans that must be identified with one of the six trigger elements.

What does IBM have to do with the mortgage business? Actually quite a bit, IBM is one of Fannie Mae’s largest technology vendors...

This could mean lenders would require borrowers to lock interest rates only during business hours or even early in the day.

Buyers of “bulk” Ginnie mortgage servicing rights will have to meet the test by January 2015.

Charbonneau, Klein and other advisors report that mortgage M&A activity is the strongest it has been in years.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is poised to formally launch its e-closing pilot project shortly, with an eye towards simplifying the mortgage closing process for both borrowers and lenders and eliminating many of the “pain points” associated with it. “We are looking to kick off the pilot later this year and run it for about three months,” said Brian Webster, program manager for the bureau’s Office of Mortgage Markets, during a meeting of the CFPB’s Community Bank Advisory Council ...