Mortgage servicers are waiting anxiously for a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on whether the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act applies to non-judicial foreclosures.
A California court last month dismissed a borrower’s attempt to bring a class-action lawsuit against Caliber Home Loans over a security breach at the nonbank lender in early 2017.
Law firm Rosicki, Rosicki & Associates, along with two affiliates, has agreed to settle a civil lawsuit alleging the companies systematically defrauded Fannie Mae and the Veterans Administration by routinely overcharging them and submitting false bills for foreclosure and eviction-related expenses.
A federal district court in Manhattan agreed to halt legal proceedings in an investment compa-ny’s challenge of U.S. Bank’s billing practices until the primary residential MBS case involving the two parties is resolved.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s refusal to hear a case relating to interest payments on mortgage escrow accounts and preemption of state laws has created uncertainty for lenders and servicers, according to lawyers for Bank of America, which sought a review of the case by the top court.
Santander Consumer USA, a Dallas-based subprime auto lender, agreed to pay nearly $12 million to settle allegations that it misled consumers about its add-on products to auto loans. This is the 10th enforcement action brought by the CFPB under Acting Director Mick Mulvaney.
Mortgage lenders that rely on cutting-edge financial technology – or fintech – may be just as guilty as traditional face-to-face lenders of pricing discrimination, according to a new study by economists at the University of California at Berkeley. The researchers found that both traditional and online lenders charge Latino and African-American borrowers 6 to 9 basis points higher interest rates than their white counterparts for purchase-mortgage loans, and 1 to 3 bps more for refinancing ...
The FHA’s Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund is generally healthy but for its Home Equity Conversion Mortgage program, according to the latest FHA audit of the MMIF. In its 2018 report to Congress this week, the Department of Housing and Urban Development had good and bad news regarding the financial condition of the insurance fund. The good news is that the economic value of the MMIF, which backs the FHA’s single-family loan programs, increased to $34.7 billion in fiscal 2018 from $26.7 billion a year ago. Total capital resources rose to $49.2 billion from $40.9 billion during the same period. For the fourth consecutive year, the fund exceeded its statutory capital reserve ratio of 2.00 percent. The ratio rose to 2.76 percent in 2018 from 2.18 percent last year. Premium reductions, had they been in effect, would have reduced the fund’s economic net worth and dropped its capital ratio, industry ...
A memorandum of understanding is in the works at the Department of Housing and Urban Development to clarify the use of the False Claims Act in FHA enforcement. At the same time, the department is considering seeking statutory authority for the Mortgagee Review Board to impose stiffer penalties on lenders for violations that do not require a False Claims Act response. (See following story.) During a public policy luncheon hosted by the Washington-based Women in Housing and Finance this week, HUD Assistant Secretary and FHA Commissioner Brian Montgomery said the draft MOU would provide a “level of fairness” in terms of whether the FCA or some other mechanism would be appropriate. Montgomery did not discuss specifics but said the memo would ensure that HUD has a say in what type of offense would qualify for a false claim. Montgomery gave no timeframe for when the ...
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