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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Under fire from New York's top banking regulator, Ocwen Financial took a $100 million charge for a potential settlement for servicing violations and posted a third-quarter loss.
October 31 -
Embattled nonbank servicer Ocwen took a $100 million charge for a potential settlement of foreclosure violations and posted a third-quarter loss, but warned the final cost to settle allegations that it backdated foreclosure notices could be higher.
October 30 -
In a surprise victory for mortgage servicer PHH Corp., a California judge overturned a $16.2 million jury verdict awarded to a California homeowner in July for a botched loan modification.
October 29 -
New York banking regulator Benjamin Lawsky's latest crackdown on Ocwen Financial may undo Ocwen's deal to buy billions of dollars of mortgage-servicing rights from Wells Fargo, and it could complicate similar deals involving other banks and servicers.
October 22 -
The GSE regulator's second attempt to stimulate the mortgage market is receiving a lukewarm reception from lenders, who remain gun-shy after being forced by Fannie and Freddie to repurchase billions of dollars in soured loans since 2008.
October 21 -
The GSE regulator's second attempt to stimulate the mortgage market is receiving a lukewarm reception from lenders, who remain gun-shy after being forced by Fannie and Freddie to repurchase billions of dollars in soured loans since 2008.
October 21 -
A wide swath of banks, from Fifth Third to SunTrust to Huntington, report big increases in refinance applications in the past few days as mortgage rates have dipped. Will it last?
October 17 -
Mortgage lenders are threatening to halt lending on condominiums in Nevada after the state Supreme Court upheld a law allowing homeowners associations to foreclose ahead of first mortgage holders.
October 17 -
Market tumult and a disappointing third-quarter revenue report Wednesday loomed larger over Bank of America, putting it in a bind unique among the nation's megabanks.
October 15 -
The Mortgage Bankers Association continues to push back against regulations stemming from the financial crisis, as the industry's biggest lobbying group continues pushing for regulatory relief to bolster the housing market and boost profits for its members.
October 8 -
Elliot Salzman, an executive at the $76 billion-asset BBVA Compass, belongs to a small club of lenders: those willing to take a chance on making home loans to risky borrowers.
October 1 -
Lenders desperately want to make potentially lucrative home loans to those with less-than-stellar credit, but only a few are willing to try given legal uncertainties. Here's how a few are designing their products to get a jump on the competition.
October 1 -
The regulator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should require banks and mortgage lenders to obtain independent, third-party tests to ensure compliance with its guidelines, according to a government watchdog report.
September 26 -
In the coming months, banks, mortgage lenders, consumer advocates and policy wonks will be slicing and dicing the latest Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data, as they do every year. Rarely, if ever, have the stakes been higher.
September 24 -
At least two mortgage servicers say they are close to being released from an OCC enforcement order that required 14 of the nations largest bank servicers to fix flaws in their foreclosure reviews. But the OCC says it has set no timetable for freeing any of the banks from the 2011 order.
September 18 -
Banks and mortgage lenders may have received too much relief from loan buybacks, putting taxpayers at greater risk for losses, according to a Federal Housing Finance Agency inspector general's report.
September 17 -
Automakers routinely track and measure the failure rates of everything from a car's brakes to air bags to power steering. Now banks and lenders are being forced to think much the same way about mortgages.
September 11 -
New regulatory and investor compliance requirements have put a renewed emphasis on quality control measures. But lenders are discovering the additional costs of these efforts are outweighed by the savings from originating fewer defective loans.
September 10 -
The Federal Housing Administration wants lenders to make fewer mistakes when writing mortgages for the government insurance program. The agency also wants to serve more borrowers with low credit scores. Getting both may be tricky.
September 9 -
A conservative housing critic and liberal consumer advocate have created a 15-year home loan for low-income borrowers to build more equity.
September 7
