The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) will likely be weakened by the incoming Trump administration and its Republican allies in Congress. Exactly how, and how much, remains to be seen, however—and, in the meantime,...more
12/5/2016
/ Banking Sector ,
Bonuses ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Cross-Selling ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Fraud ,
Incentive Compensation ,
Mortgage Lenders ,
Mortgages ,
Online Marketplace Lending ,
Payday Loans ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Trump Administration ,
Wells Fargo
Virtually ever since its inception on July 21, 2011, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has inspired wariness and skepticism in the financial institutions and financial services providers, subject to this new...more
5/6/2016
/ Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Banking Sector ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Insurance Industry ,
Jurisdiction ,
Kickbacks ,
Mortgage Insurance ,
Mortgage Servicers ,
Mortgages ,
Popular ,
Recess Appointments ,
Reinsurance ,
RESPA
Calling the settlement a reproach for “years of reckless underwriting” at Wells Fargo, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in Manhattan announced on April 8th that Wells Fargo & Co. formally reached a record $1.2 billion settlement...more
After years of litigation costing tens of millions of dollars, the Federal Housing Finance Agency has hit upon a way to expedite resolution of breach of representation and warranty claims that, if successful, could minimize...more
Six victories that clients of ours had won over Lehman and Aurora in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado got affirmed on January 27 by the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver after hotly-contested rounds...more
Many big cities in the United States responded to the fallout from the 2008 financial crisis by passing local laws which pressure banks to invest more in low-income neighborhoods. Between 2010 and 2013, cities such as New...more
9/28/2015
/ Affordable Housing ,
Bank of America ,
Banking Sector ,
Banks ,
Citibank ,
Community Reinvestment Act ,
CRA ,
Data Collection ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Foreclosure ,
JPMorgan Chase ,
Mortgages ,
Residential Real Estate Market
Concerned about “increasing uncertainty surrounding regulatory oversight of these types of arrangements,” Wells Fargo is ending all of its roughly 200 mortgage marketing services and desk rental agreements with builders and...more
8/11/2015
/ Banking Sector ,
Banks ,
Borrowers ,
Construction Industry ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Financial Institutions ,
Home Buyer ,
HUD ,
Kickbacks ,
Lenders ,
Loans ,
Mortgage Servicers ,
Mortgages ,
Real Estate Brokers ,
Real Estate Market ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
RESPA ,
Wells Fargo
In the aftermath of the financial crisis, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac aggressively demanded Wall Street and big bank aggregators (“aggregators”) repurchase millions of defaulted and distressed loans, due to purported breaches...more
6/12/2015
/ Banking Crisis ,
Banking Sector ,
Citibank ,
Fannie Mae ,
Freddie Mac ,
GSE ,
Mortgage Lenders ,
Mortgage Loan Aggregators ,
Mortgage Loan Originators ,
Mortgages ,
Repurchases ,
Settlement Agreements
Quicken Loans, the nation’s largest Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-backed mortgage lender, filed suit on Friday, April 17 in the United States District Court in Detroit against the United States Department of Justice...more
BofA’s “hustling” attempt to overturn a $1.27 billion judgment against it and Countrywide—along with the individual defendant identified in the next paragraph, the “Defendants”—in the U.S. District Court for the Southern...more
The U.S. Supreme Court recently held in Jesinoski v. Countrywide Home Loans, Inc. that borrowers exercising their right to rescind mortgages under the Truth in Lending Act (“TILA”) only need to provide written notice to...more
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear two cases brought by Bank of America regarding whether a second mortgage on an underwater property can be voided during Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Both cases involve Florida homeowners who sued to...more
Federal bank regulatory agencies are significantly increasing their scrutiny of Wall Street bank lending, moving from annual reviews to a system of monthly audits in a major effort to curtail aggressive underwriting...more
Watch an in-depth webinar presented by Litigation Partner Philip R. Stein, about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's attempts to expand its jurisdiction and authority over consumer finance companies and financial...more
Kate Berry reported in American Banker and SourceMedia’s National Mortgage News on how a $616 servicing error snowballed into a $16 million jury verdict. It was reported that a jury last month awarded $514,000 in compensatory...more
Citigroup announced last week that it will pay $7 billion to end an investigation by the U.S Department of Justice into misconduct related to its mortgage securitization practices. The blockbuster settlement came days before...more
With the mortgage crisis almost a decade in the rear-view mirror, some harmed homeowners are just now starting to see reparations for the transgressions of the country’s largest financial institutions.
...more
7/17/2014
/ Bank of America ,
Banks ,
Citigroup ,
Foreclosure ,
Goldman Sachs ,
JPMorgan Chase ,
Morgan Stanley ,
Mortgages ,
OCC ,
Robo-Signing ,
Settlement ,
Wall Street ,
Wells Fargo
“Robo-signing,” the term coined to refer to bank officials who quickly approved mortgage foreclosure documents without actual knowledge of the validity of the grounds for foreclosure, has been spurring lawsuits and making...more
A former goliath of the non-prime lending market, Aurora Loan Services, LLC (“ALS”), recently resolved a class-action lawsuit alleging that it fraudulently induced distressed California borrowers to enter into purported...more
As detailed in an August 2013 Salon article by David Dayen and a September 2013 Bloomberg Businessweek article by Karen Weise, West Palm Beach, Florida homeowner and attorney Lynn Szymoniak helped blow the whistle on...more
There is now yet another settlement in the mortgage loan industry to report. First Horizon National Corp. announced last week that it has entered into a definitive resolution agreement with Freddie Mac regarding loan...more
We recently posted about a critical ruling out of New York’s intermediate state appellate court, the case of ACE Securities Corp. v. DB Structured Products, Inc., 977 N.Y.S.2d 229, 231 (N.Y.A.D. 1st Dept. Dec. 19, 2013). In...more
The real wolves of Wall Street–sixteen of America’s largest banks–could end up shelling out more than $50 billion to secure settlements from the federal government in connection with their alleged roles in the mortgage...more
On December 19, 2013, correspondent lenders were the beneficiaries of a long-awaited common sense ruling on when the statute of limitations begins to run under New York law for purposes of a mortgage buyback claim. The...more
It looks like yet another illegal kickback scheme involving mortgage insurance has been uncovered in the residential mortgage industry. Recently the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) filed a lawsuit in the U.S....more