Negotiations among major banks and state attorneys general to settle problems in foreclosure servicing practices reached a one-year anniversary this week with little apparent progress over the key issue of how much litigation relief the lenders will gain from the deal. “We worked out a tremendous amount of the settlement and gotten a lot done,” said a spokesman for Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, who has been spearheading the negotiation on behalf of the states. However, he disputed applying the word “imminent,” which some bankers had used, to describe when the settlement might be finalized. “Let’s not jump...

The Securities and Exchange Commission has made a good bit of progress in updating its proposal for shelf eligibility conditions for ABS in light of industry comments and the passage of the Dodd-Frank Act. However, there are still numerous areas that concern major players in the mortgage finance industry. A number of commenters took issue with the SEC’s proposal to impose an additional executive officer certification requirement. The agency originally proposed requiring the issuer to file an exhibit to the registration statement consisting of a certification of the chief executive officer of the depositor that, to his or her knowledge, “the securitized assets backing the issue have...

The chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform wants the Federal Housing Finance Agency to explain why it hired two outside law firms in a massive legal action to recover losses suffered by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on their investments in non-agency MBS. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-CA, wrote FHFA Acting Director Edward DeMarco on Sept. 29 asking why the agency hired outside counsel from Quinn Emanuel & Sullivan and from Kasowitz Benson Torres & Freidman to initiate lawsuits against financial institutions and how much the agency is paying them. Issa posed detailed questions and requested documents regarding...

A “who’s who” list of a number of the largest and most well-known mortgage lenders in the country – including Wells Fargo, Countrywide Home Loans, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, PNC Bank, GMAC Mortgage Corp., Citimortgage and Suntrust Mortgage – have been accused by two whistle-blower types of charging U.S. military veterans illegal fees to refinance their home mortgages. According to the accusations, made in a complaint unsealed in federal court in Atlanta late last week, the mortgage lending entities charged refinance fees that are prohibited by the Department of Veterans Affairs and hid the charges by padding or inflating other allowable charges so they could obtain government guarantees for the mortgages, all without telling the veterans.

The Multistate Mortgage Committee of the Conference of State Bank Supervisors and the American Association of Residential Mortgage Regulators last week came out with examiner guidelines for use in reviewing non-depository mortgage loan originators’ and creditors’ compliance with the Federal Reserve Board’s mortgage loan originator compensation rules. The guidelines are intended to promote standardization and consistency within the state regulatory community regarding enforcement of the FRB’s rules. The Fed’s final rules for closed-end credit under Regulation Z introduced loan originator compensation restrictions to protect consumers against the unfairness, deception and abuse that can arise with certain loan origination compensation practices. The rules generally prohibit paying loan originators on the basis of loan terms and conditions, dual compensation to originators by consumers and any other person, and “steering” consumers to loans to receive greater compensation.

The U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan has entered into an agreement with the law firm of Steven J. Baum, one of the largest volume mortgage foreclosure firms in New York state, that requires the firm to pay $2 million to Uncle Sam and to extensively change its mortgage foreclosure practices. The agreement resolves an investigation into Baum’s mortgage foreclosure-related practices, specifically whether the firm, on behalf of its lender clients, filed misleading pleadings, affidavits and mortgage assignments in state and federal courts in New York.

President Obama’s nominee to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau passed his first Congressional gauntlet last week, gaining the approval of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, in spite of unanimous opposition from Republicans on the committee, who are more opposed to the CFPB than they are about whoever is nominated to run it. Late last week, the committee voted to send the nomination of Richard Cordray, currently the head of the agency’s enforcement division, to the full Senate on a straight party line vote 12-10. “Today’s Banking Committee vote on Richard Cordray is an important step forward for American consumers,” said Chairman Tim Johnson, D-SD. “The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau needs a director, and Mr. Cordray has proven he is qualified for the job. He should be confirmed by the full Senate as soon as possible.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has developed a portal that companies can use to view and respond to entries in the new complaint database, Inside Regulatory Strategies has learned. “The company portal serves as the interface between the CFPB and financial companies, enabling companies to view and respond to complaints submitted by consumers,” the bureau said in a presentation to industry representatives recently. “Using the portal, companies should provide an explanation of the resolution and the actions taken in the consumer’s situation, select a resolution status for the complaint and attach relevant documents, if necessary.” The CFPB also maintains a consumer portal so complainants can check the status of their cases. Here’s an overview of the complaint process: A consumer files a complaint, then the CFPB routes the complaint to the company.

One of the emerging supervisory issues for state-regulated mortgage lenders is whether there should be some sort of formal ombudsman office or function within the Multistate Mortgage Committee or at least perhaps an informal “feedback loop” in the context of a multistate examination, according to lender representatives, industry attorneys and state officials themselves. “Right now, there is no formal or even informal feedback loop for licensed companies who are dealing with MMC issues to go back to the Conference of State Bank Supervisors or American Association of Residential Mortgage Regulators to talk about issues in general,” explained Donald Lampe, partner and head of the financial services regulatory and compliance practice at Dykema.