The Federal Housing Finance Agency expects to finish its latest assessment of principal reductions on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans sometime this month against a backdrop of intensifying public debate over the issue. The Treasury Department this week fought back against claims that its proposed incentive payments to the government-sponsored enterprises, if they agree to principal reduction loan mods, would be a backdoor bailout for banks that service these loans. Treasury earlier this year offered to pay the GSEs the same incentives that other investors get for principal reduction loan mods under...
In Rosenfield v. HSBC Bank USA, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has submitted a friend-of-the-court brief arguing that some mortgage borrowers who did not receive important disclosures mandated by the Truth in Lending Act are permitted to cancel their loans as long as they notify the lender of their intent to cancel within three years. Filed before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in Denver late last week, the CFPB argued that Section 125 of TILA (U.S.C. Section 1635) provides consumers a statutory right to rescind qualifying mortgage loans ...
Last week, the full House Financial Services Committee passed several pieces of legislation, including H.R. 2446, the RESPA Home Warranty Clarification Act of 2011, introduced by Rep. Judy Biggert, R-IL, which advanced with one amendment. The legislation amends the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act of 1974 to state that no prohibited kickback or unearned fee incidental to a real estate settlement service involving a federally related mortgage loan shall be deemed to include, or be deemed to have included, homeowner warranties or similar residential service contracts for ...
Acting Comptroller of the Currency John Walsh reassured participants at an interagency conference on the Community Reinvestment Act last week that the enforcement orders federal bank regulators issued last year and the state attorneys general national mortgage settlement will work well together. Ive said from the beginning that it is not only possible, but absolutely necessary, that our separate actions be able to work well together. And I think weve succeeded in that, Walsh said. The steps we have each required servicers to take to fix the problems in servicing and foreclosure processing ...
Department of Housing and Urban Development.Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.Federal Reserve.Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.Treasury Department/SIG-TARP.Some Nominees Pass; Two Dont. The full Senate has unanimously confirmed Martin Gruenberg, Thomas Hoenig, and Jeremiah Norton to be members of the FDIC Board of Directors, and Thomas Curry to be the Comptroller of the Currency, after all four had ...
The Treasury Department this week finished winding down its holdings of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac MBS, claiming a positive return of $25 billion for the U.S. taxpayers from a market stabilization initiative launched in the teeth of the 2008 financial market meltdown. Treasurys holdings of MBS issued by the two government-sponsored enterprises peaked at $197.6 billion in December 2009. These MBS purchases helped preserve access to mortgage credit during a period of unprecedented market stress, the agency said. The Federal Reserve agency MBS investment program was far bigger, peaking at $1.12...
In a development that ultimately could affect legions of homeowners who couldnt get a permanent loan modification, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit recently gave the go-ahead to a borrower class action against a mortgage servicer for not providing a permanent loan modification under the Home Affordable Modification Program. We believe this affects hundreds of thousands of people, if not more not just at Wells Fargo, but also with respect to other banks who havent been able to get their loan modifications like they should have, given their compliance with their trial plans...
The feds arent done cracking down on mortgage servicers and before the smoke clears, more than a half dozen companies are going to be facing fines that have been pending since federal regulators announced their servicing consent decrees last April, an official from the Federal Reserve told members of Congress this week. Last month, the Fed announced it had assessed monetary sanctions totaling $766.5 million against Ally Financial, Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo for failing to appropriately oversee their subsidiaries mortgage loan servicing and foreclosure processing...
Regulatory streamlining is absolutely essential if smaller mortgage lenders are going to survive the threat they face from their enormous regulatory burdens, two industry trade groups told the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau recently. Currently, the industry is dealing with several new rules, including those under the Secure and Fair Enforcement Act for Mortgage Licensing and the Truth in Lending Act, and faces an unprecedented wave of additional rules required under Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, said the Consumer Mortgage Coalition ...
Federal Housing Finance Agency.FHFA Office of Inspector General. FHFAs Supervision of Freddie Macs Controls over Mortgage Servicing Contractors Faulted. The Federal Housing Finance Agencys Office of Inspector General found some areas in which the Finance Agency could improve its supervision of Fannie Maes and Freddie Macs controls over its mortgage servicing contractors. FHFA has not clearly defined its role regarding oversight of servicers, sufficiently coordinated with other federal banking agencies about risks ...