On March 8, 2023, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) published a final rule allowing mortgagees to modify a Federal Housing Administration (FHA) insured mortgage by recasting the total unpaid loan for a new...more
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Developers (HUD)-approved lenders take note – the filing of new foreclosures and proceeding with current foreclosures has been suspended by HUD for the next sixty (60) days, beginning...more
In addition to the guidance regarding Hurricane Harvey disaster relief, the housing agencies and government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) recently addressed the mortgage-related relief available to victims of both Hurricane...more
On April 4, 2017, the Mortgagee Review Board (MRB) of the U.S. Department for Housing and Urban Development (HUD) published an entry in the Federal Register titled "Mortgagee Review Board: Administrative Actions." The entry...more
The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has issued an alert on appraiser identity theft. The alert details cases in three states where identity thieves illegally used...more
Effective January 1, 2017, the definition of lender under the California Residential Mortgage Lending Act (RMLA) will be amended to include third-party processors and/or underwriters who do not solicit loan applicants,...more
HUD has issued a Federal Register Notice offering initial implementation guidance for the Housing Opportunities through Modernization Act of 2016 (HOTMA) (Pub. L. 114-201). The notice highlighted both the HOTMA provisions...more
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Federal Housing Administration (FHA) issued Mortgagee Letter 2016-11, which specifically permits properties encumbered with a Property Assessed Clean Energy...more
The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) has announced guidance intended to clarify circumstances under which residential properties encumbered by a Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) special assessment would be eligible...more
A federal district court in Illinois recently dismissed a putative class action against a foreclosure firm, holding that an allegation in a foreclosure complaint that the mortgagor is personally liable for any deficiency on a...more
On April 8, U.S. District Judge Jesse M. Furman approved a $1.2 billion settlement paid by Wells Fargo NA to the Federal Housing Administration (“FHA”) over allegations that Wells Fargo submitted insurance claims for...more
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