U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has been called upon to take the lead in investigating allegations that a number of the largest mortgage lenders in the country may have systematically charged illegal fees to military veterans who refinanced their homes. Sen. Jon Tester, D-MT, a member of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, sent a letter to Holder recently requesting he get involved in a probe to determine the veracity of the accusations. Earlier this month, a complaint was unsealed in federal court in which two whistleblower types accused the lenders of charging refinance fees that are...

Private mortgage insurer PMI Group Inc. is assessing its options, including a possible restructuring, after state regulators seized its main unit, PMI Mortgage Insurance Co., last week. Headquartered in Walnut Creek, CA, but incorporated in Arizona, the company was seized by Christina Urias, director of the Arizona Department of Insurance, two months after it was placed under regulatory supervision following a recent “rapid increase in losses that has adversely affected its solvency and that of its affiliates.” On its website, PMI Group informed its clients that Urias has obtained an order “directing full and exclusive...

The mortgage lending industry is more likely to see a return to higher FHA loan limits than higher Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac limits, after the Senate gave its approval to legislation that would restore higher conforming loan levels all the way around, according to one top industry lobbyist. Late last week, the Senate voted 60-38 to approve a federal spending bill that included an amendment sponsored by Sens. Bob Menendez, D-NJ, and Johnny Isakson, R-GA, that would reinstate the higher loan limits for the government-sponsored enterprises and the FHA that ended on Sept. 30. Those limits dropped from a maximum of...

President Obama nominated Carol Galante to become the next Commissioner of the FHA, an agency that continues to adjust to a bigger role in the mortgage market. Galante has served as deputy assistant secretary for multifamily housing at the Department of Housing and Urban Development since 2009 and has filled in as acting FHA commissioner since the departure of David Stevens. She worked for nearly a quarter of a century at BRIDGE Housing, a company that specializes in affordable housing development. Galante definitely has the management and leadership experience for the post, said Brian Chappelle, co-founder of Potomac Partners LLC. “If...

The Supreme Court of the United States will settle a multi-district circuit court conflict that will likely determine the ability of the mortgage lending industry to determine on its own what to charge borrowers at the point of origination. In deciding earlier this month to accept Freeman v. Quicken Loans Inc., the high court will confront the question of whether a plaintiff must demonstrate an unearned fee for a real estate settlement service was divided between two or more persons in order to establish that a violation of Section 8(b) of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act occurred.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has issued the first iteration of its supervision and examination manual, along with its examination procedures for mortgage servicing, in part so that financial services providers know what to expect during their examinations. The first section of the manual describes the CFPB’s compliance supervision and examination process. The second part outlines the bureau's examination procedures, including both general instructions and procedures for determining compliance with specific regulations. The final section provides templates for reporting risk assessments, examination results and supervision plans.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau last week began testing a revised design of its integrated consumer mortgage disclosure prototypes with consumers and industry in the Albuquerque, NM, area, the agency revealed. The latest pair, dubbed “Pinyon” and “Yucca,” represent a fixed‐rate and an adjustable‐rate mortgage, respectively. Both forms include sections on loan terms, projected payments, closing costs, calculating settlement costs, calculating cash to close, comparisons, other considerations and verify receipt. But the Yucca version adds an adjustable interest rate table.

The U.S. Senate voted late last week to approve an amendment to a federal spending bill that was offered by Sens. Bob Menendez, D-NJ, and Johnny Isakson, R-GA, to reinstate the higher loan limits for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration that expired on Sept. 30. Those limits dropped to $625,500 in a number of high-cost markets on Oct. 1, and would be restored to $729,750 through December 2013 under the Menendez/Isakson amendment. The National Association of Home Builders was pleased.

The performance of large mortgage servicers of non-agency residential MBS, including their ability to prevent or cure loan delinquencies, varied widely during the 12 months ending in June 2011, due in no small part to foreclosure moratoria imposed on some, but not all, servicers, according to Moody’s Investors Service. The company’s inaugural Servicer Dashboard report found that during the June 2010 to June 2011 period, JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America exhibited overall poor servicing performance in contrast to CitiMortgage, GMAC and Ocwen. A major impediment to Chase and BofA’s servicing performance, Moody’s noted, was the fact that...