A federal judge rejected efforts by the government to keep a new batch of official memos and other documents from being disclosed in the ongoing legal war over the terms of the conservatorships of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge Margaret Sweeney released a new set of documents that included a brief excerpt of former White House housing policy expert Jim Parrott’s deposition from January, a presentation from the Federal Housing Finance Agency in 2008 and several memos dating back to 2008 and 2012. Sweeney rejected...

As policymakers in Washington, DC, face the expiration of the Treasury Department’s Home Affordable Modification Program at year-end, the CFPB last week released a collection of what it characterized as “guiding principles” on the future of foreclosure prevention. “We aim to help consumers avoid foreclosures, which upset their personal and financial lives,” said CFPB Director Richard Cordray. “The modification program was put in place to provide alternatives to foreclosure. Our principles will serve as helpful guardrails for servicers, investors and regulators to consider as we continue to protect consumers who are struggling to pay their mortgages.” In summary, the principles emphasize, among other things, accessibility: “Consumers should easily be able to obtain and use information about loss mitigation options, and ...

Mortgage Industry Waits for PHH Shoe to Drop. The mortgage industry is awaiting a final ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in the case of PHH Corp. v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, No. 15-cv-01177.

More unsealed documents were released this week during the discovery process in a GSE shareholder case in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. The eight documents ranged from an excerpt of former White House housing policy expert Jim Parrott’s deposition from January,to presentations from the Federal Housing Finance Agency in 2008 to several memos dating back to 2008 and 2012. In the two-page Parrott deposition excerpt, he said that the net worth sweep was a “Treasury-driven process,” when asked why he didn’t reach out to anyone on Capitol Hill about the plan. He added that to the degree there was outreach to Congress, it would have come from Treasury, not him.

Mortgage industry trade groups filed a brief last week asking the Supreme Court of the United States to take up a case involving fees charged by Connecticut aimed at mortgage recordings by Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems. In February, Connecticut’s Supreme Court upheld fees imposed by the state in 2013 that tripled charges for mortgages recorded with MERS compared with non-MERS recording fees in the case of MERSCORP Holdings v. Dannel Malloy. In the new brief, industry participants caution...

The Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a lower court decision that had cleared Freddie Mac of charges that it misled investors about its involvement in the subprime mortgage market. The lawsuit was filed in 2008 by the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System, which claimed Freddie made false public financial statements that hid its exposure to risky loans. The fund alleged that it lost more than $27.2 million as the value of Freddie stock plummeted. OPERS said...

Ocwen Financial reported a net loss of $87.20 million for the second quarter of 2016, with most of the loss related to so-called legacy issues. A planned settlement with the Department of Justice of two lawsuits involving the Home Affordable Modification Program and FHA mortgages caused $40.10 million in pre-tax losses for the nonbank lender-servicer. The company also paid $28.10 million during the quarter to cover the cost of monitoring settlements involving federal regulators ...

EverBank Financial announced this week that it’s in “advanced discussions” with a “well-respected financial services company” that plans to acquire the depository. Everbank ranked 15th among jumbo lenders as of the first quarter of 2016 with $725.0 million in such originations during the quarter, according to Inside Nonconforming Markets. The company formerly known as NovaStar filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last week, citing ... [Includes four briefs]

Class-action plaintiffs might not be assured of a final victory despite a favorable jury verdict in the wake of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit’s affirmation of district courts’ power to decertify a class even after a jury verdict. Industry attorneys say that the court’s recent ruling in Mazzei v. The Money Store means that defendants can obtain decertification of a class action not only leading up to trial, but even after a jury verdict in favor of the class. In Mazzei, the Second Circuit reaffirmed...

In a warning to other lenders on the importance of proper vendor oversight, the CFPB recently brought a$10 million enforcement action against Santander Bank, based in Wilmington, DE, because of its allegedly illegal overdraft services practices. Among the practices at issue, the bureau said the bank signed up consumers for overdraft services without their consent. “In some instances, Santander’s telemarketerbriefly described [the bank’s] Account Protector [service] to consumers, then asked for the last four digits of their Social Security numbers, and enrolled them without their consent,” said the CFPB. “In other instances, consumers said they did not want to enroll but requested information about the overdraft service, but the telemarketer enrolled them anyway,” the bureau added. Also, call ...