Over the past month, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) has enacted and proposed several changes to its Defect Taxonomy. The Defect Taxonomy is contained in Appendix 8 to FHA Handbook 4000.1. The Defect Taxonomy was...more
On June 17, 2024, FHA announced in draft Mortgage Letter 2024-12 a proposed revision to its Defect Taxonomy to clarify that fraud or material misrepresentation involving a sponsored Third-Party Originator (TPO) is a Tier 1...more
Based upon “the mortgage industry’s evolution over time, the advancement of technology, and due to no longer needing to maintain several branch offices to conduct FHA business nationwide,” the FHA has adopted a new rule...more
In a continuation of enforcement activity related to redlining under October 2021’s Combatting Redlining Initiative, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on May 31, 2023, that ESSA Bank & Trust has agreed to pay $3...more
In 2018, the CFPB issued multiple rules, and Congress passed legislation, to clarify, revise and update the regulatory framework applicable to the home mortgage origination and servicing market....more
By recently releasing yet another revised representation and warranty framework, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac continued their efforts to assuage the concerns of the lending industry that a default by a borrower poses an unfair...more
Over the past couple of weeks, the CFPB has kept itself busy in the mortgage origination enforcement arena. In one complaint, the CFPB ordered a residential mortgage lender and its CEO to each pay a $1 million civil penalty...more
The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development released new standards for manually underwriting FHA mortgage loans. The standards are intended to provide more “definitive underwriting standards” and address...more
The Housing Commission of the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) recently released proposals for reforming federal housing policy. The Housing Commission report, issued on February 25, 2013, proposes a number of changes to...more