Kate Berry has covered the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for American Banker since 2016. She joined the publication in 2006 covering mortgage lending and the financial crisis. Berry also has covered big banks including Bank of America, J.P. Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo. She has won five awards from the Society of American Business Writers and Editors, and has worked at several news organizations including the Orange County Register, the Los Angeles Business Journal and the Associated Press. Berry began her career as a clerk at the New York Times.
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Some lenders have asked whether the bureau would adjust its so-called resubmission guidelines which determine whether lenders have to refile data based on errors found in samples and it has responded with a request for further industry input.
By Kate BerryJanuary 7 -
The more aggressive nonbank lenders are attracting top producers by essentially allowing loan officers to set their own rate of pay. While so-called "pick-a-pay" compensation plans are not illegal, critics say they can encourage loan officers to steer consumers into more expensive loans in order to increase their own pay.
By Kate BerryDecember 24 -
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are telling lenders that they are willing to retain loans with defects if they believe the defects are minor and can be fixed. But Freddie is one-upping Fannie by offering to retain such loans without charging lenders a fee.
By Kate BerryDecember 23 -
Existing-home sales plummeted in November, confirming fears in the mortgage industry that a new consumer disclosure rule is delaying mortgage closings.
By Kate BerryDecember 22 -
Existing-home sales plummeted in November confirming fears in the mortgage industry that a new consumer disclosure rule is delaying mortgage closings.
By Kate BerryDecember 22 -
Some mortgage investors are refusing to buy home loans that are at risk of violations of new consumer-disclosure rules. The problem appears to be worst among nonagency jumbo loans purchased by private investors.
By Kate BerryDecember 21 -
Fannie Mae is offering yet another carrot to lenders that have lobbied extensively for relief from loan repurchases.
By Kate BerryDecember 15 -
U.S. Bancorp has plucked longtime lending executive Tom Wind from EverBank Financial to run its mortgage business.
By Kate BerryDecember 10 -
JPMorgan Chase has shuffled three top executives in credit cards, mortgages and mortgage servicing.
By Kate BerryDecember 9 -
Eileen Serra, 61, the chief executive of the Chase Card Services unit, will step down in January and become an adviser to the company on growth initiatives, according to a memo Wednesday from Gordon Smith, JPMorgan's CEO of consumer and community banking.
By Kate BerryDecember 9 -
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's Calvin Hagins warned mortgage lenders about the regulatory agency's four exam priorities for next year: loan-officer compensation, steps taken to ensure borrowers' ability to repay, compliance with "Know Before You Owe" consumer disclosures, and marketing services agreements.
By Kate BerryDecember 8 -
Two independent mortgage banks agreed to settlements in the past week with the Justice Department for failing to meet Federal Housing Administration guidelines. The cases are a warning to nonbank lenders that they need to beef up self-reporting of deficiencies, and they remind large banks about the legal risks associated with FHA lending.
By Kate BerryDecember 7 -
There are no easy fixes to Nationstar's myriad problems including a plunging stock price and increased regulatory scrutiny but Chief Executive Jay Bray says the turnaround starts with a commitment to improving customer service.
By Kate BerryDecember 7 -
Kal Raman has resigned as president and chief executive of Xome, the digital platform of the nonbank mortgage servicer Nationstar Mortgage Holdings.
By Kate BerryDecember 1 -
Anticipation of rising interest rates has stirred more talk among mortgage lenders about the need to originate loans to borrowers with low credit scores. Mortgage lenders like Angel Oak Home Loans in Atlanta argue there is a distinction between the subprime products being pitched today and the infamous stated-income loans of yore.
By Kate BerryNovember 30 -
Bryan Sullivan, the CFO at LoanDepot, talks about its growth prospects without fuel from an initial public offering, how getting consumers to opt for home equity lines of credit is tough, and why he considers the nonbank a disruptor.
By Kate BerryNovember 24 -
Prospect Mortgage, a Sherman Oaks, Calif., nonbank lender, has agreed to pay $10.1 million in borrower restitution and penalties for violating federal and state laws, California's Department of Business Oversight said Thursday.
By Kate BerryNovember 19 -
Dave McKay, the president and CEO of Royal Bank of Canada, has spent much of his time as head of the second-largest Canadian bank plotting the acquisition of the coveted $36 billion-asset City National in Los Angeles. Now he has to execute on a strategy of cross-selling products to affluent customers of both banks while expanding geographically.
By Kate BerryNovember 5 -
Luther Burbank Savings, in Santa Rosa, Calif., has established three home loan programs aimed at helping low- and moderate-income borrowers afford to buy homes in nine California counties.
By Kate BerryNovember 4 -
Freddie Mac Chief Executive Donald Layton insisted Tuesday that the government-sponsored enterprise showed "very strong fundamentals" in the third quarter, despite reporting a $501 million loss due to an accounting mismatch with its use of derivatives.
By Kate BerryNovember 3




