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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Embattled mortgage servicer Ocwen Financial faces up to $26 billion in damage claims by bondholders and a greater risk of being fired as a mortgage servicer on thousands of small, private-label trusts.
February 27 -
Amid heartbreaking tales told by distressed homeowners and reverse mortgage holders, many community groups praised OneWest CEO Joseph Otting for spending time speaking to them and hearing their communities' concerns.
February 26 -
CIT's John Thain and OneWest's James Otting, scheduled to speak today at a public hearing on their $3.4 billion M&A deal, will face complaints from community activists that they owe the public more after receiving substantial government help during the financial crisis.
February 26 -
One in three struggling homeowners who received a loan modification through the Home Affordable Modification Program ultimately redefaulted on those loan.Meanwhile, the program that was supposed to help some 4 million families avoid foreclosure has helped only a fraction of that amount, according to a report presented to Congress.
February 25 -
It's not quite too big to fail, but Ocwen is the country's largest servicer of subprime mortgages. So if it were forced to sell itself, or even failed, the transfer of some $410 billion in servicing rights could create havoc in the mortgage market, industry experts said.
February 23 -
Auto lending surged to an all-time high in the fourth quarter yet delinquencies remained low, Experian said in a report issued Thursday.
February 19 -
Foreclosures and delinquencies may seem like problems from the past, but servicers are still struggling with a massive backlog of distressed loans and a return to normalcy is at least two years away, if not longer.
February 18 -
Just three years ago, CEO David Nelms heralded the purchase of LendingTree Loans as a milestone in Discover's evolution from a strict credit-card company to a broad-based consumer lender. Now he is hinting that it might exit the mortgage business.
February 13 -
The expiration of the federal Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act leaves servicers dealing with a patchwork of state laws and investor rules, while renters living in REO properties are at a greater risk of eviction.
February 5 -
Terry Robinson, a longtime California banker, died on Jan. 11, three days before his Manhattan Bancorp announced a proposed merger with Plaza Bancorp. Manhattan, which is operating under an OCC order, did not publicly disclose Robinson's death, or his Dec. 31 retirement, even though he played an integral role negotiating the merger.
February 2 -
The California Department of Business Oversight is accepting applications until Feb. 20 from firms or individuals with experience with the California Residential Mortgage Lending Act and California Homeowner Bill of Rights.
January 30 -
Aiming to address a nationwide shortage of affordable housing, FHA has launched a risk-sharing pilot program that it hopes will encourage community development lenders to finance the rehabilitation of smaller multifamily apartments.
January 28 -
California's Department of Business Oversight said Friday that it will drop its effort to suspend Ocwen Loan Servicing's mortgage license in California. The Atlanta servicer had failed for more than a year to provide its California regulator with requested information
January 23 -
Local bankers will try to pick up any business that could fall out as a result of the merger. And with one less bank to buy in Southern California, remaining franchises also may command scarcity value.
January 22 -
Bank of America's expenses still far exceed those of JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo, so analysts were clearly disappointed Thursday when CEO Brian Moynihan failed to outline any specific plans for further lowering overhead.
January 15 -
Facing the prospect of losing its license in California, Ocwen would be wise to settle its probe by state regulators in a timely manner, observers said. If it doesn't, the mortgage servicer could lose significant revenue and might even face a cash crunch.
January 15 -
Jane Fraser, the CEO of CitiMortgage and head of Citigroup's U.S. consumer and commercial banking units, is handing responsibility for day-to-day global mortgage operations to her current mortgage lieutenant, CD Davies.
January 13 -
As banks look to cuts costs and improve efficiency, many are actively trying to reduce the number of times they "touch" a loan file. The goal: get the application right the first time so it doesn't have to be sent back to the underwriter for time-consuming and costly fixes.
January 13 -
Home values have risen fastest in markets where institutional buyers bought up scores of foreclosed homes and then rented them out. But these investor have largely curtailed their buying, and may even be ready to start selling off more properties to profit from the run-up in home prices. That could be good news for first-time buyers.
January 8 -
Ocwen Financial came under fire from Joseph A. Smith, the monitor of the national mortgage settlement, after concerns of conflicts of interest were raised by an unnamed whistleblower.
December 16
