Mortgage Finance Stories | Housing Affairs Letter

Dodd-Frank Overhaul Unveiled

Calling the Wall Street Reform & Consumer Protection Act of 2010 a grave mistake that has failed, House Financial Services Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) offers a Republican solution of dismantling significant portions of the law and enacting a substitute that would end federal

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Quicken Steps Up Battle With Feds

Detroit, MI-based Quicken Loans emerges from its lawsuit defeat intent on remaining the last major holdout in the Justice Department’s (DOJ) campaign to penalize mortgage lenders the department alleges are linked to the 2008 housing market collapse and corresponding financial

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Quicken Loans Sues HUD, DOJ

Taking the offensive in a three-year probe into its lending practices, Detroit, MI-based Quicken Loans sues HUD and the Justice Department (DOJ), accusing the two agencies of trying to strong-arm it into a settlement

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HUD/FHA Laments HAWK Snub

An effort to assess lenders a fee to pay for high-tech advancement at the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) falls flat on its face in the wake of intense bank lobbying and the result roils HUD executives.

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Watt Squeezed For Mortgage Buybacks

Frantic to get success out of at least one of the Obama administration’s housing recovery initiatives, House Democrats line up to press their former colleague Mel Watt to remove the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s ban on buying back troubled mortgages for refinancing

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Deceptive Foreclosure Practices Targeted

An initiative by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), along with the attorneys general of 15 states, seeks damages from nine firms accused in lawsuits of collecting more than $25 million in illegal advance fees from unsuspecting victims expecting to get help to prevent foreclosures on their homes.

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CFPB Clarifies Mortgage Heir Rule

When the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued its new mortgage protection rule for borrowers, it forgot to consider heirs who inherit a family member’s home with an outstanding mortgage.

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First HAMP, Then HARP, Now HAWK

HUD unveils a new homeownership rescue plan that requires housing counseling before new homebuyers can cut the costs of their Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-insured home loans.

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Agency Eases Strict Mortgage Rules

Conceding that its effort to enforce strict new mortgage loan rules is strangling the mortgage lending industry and crimping home sales in what amounts to 20% of the total U.S. economy, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) retreats to ease the restrictions.

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HUD Pivots On Reverse Mortgages

Surviving spouses of reverse mortgage loan borrowers who are not named in the loan will no longer be forced to repay the loan when the listed borrower dies or leaves the property. But HUD’s new policy, the result of legal pressure, applies only to new loans, dubbed Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECM).

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