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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After halting an Ocwen deal to purchase mortgage servicing rights from Wells Fargo, New York's Department of Financial Services is turning its attention to another nonbank servicer, Nationstar.
March 5 -
Two of the three major nonbank mortgage servicers are sticking by plans to acquire more portfolios from banks this year, despite regulatory scrutiny and concern they are growing too fast.
March 3 -
JPMorgan Chase's warning that it will lose money in the mortgage business this year is a forceful reminder that the housing market has not recovered from the downturn.
February 26 -
Bitter weather, the qualified mortgage rule's restrictive guidelines and the lingering effects of the foreclosure crisis have put a crimp in homebuying at an inopportune time for lenders.
February 24 -
"Servicers now face compensatory fees, not for mistakes or unreasonable delays, but simply as the cost of doing business," Mortgage Bankers Association President David Stevens says.
February 19 -
The largest U.S. bank's apartment loan business is mushrooming, aided by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac retrenching. Now JPMorgan is refocusing on a market where, surprisingly, it lags: New York.
February 19 -
New York's banking regulator unleashed a verbal assault on nonbank servicer Ocwen Financial Wednesday, saying the company's use of technology to better handle distressed loans is "too good to be true."
February 13 -
Regulatory intervention throws a monkey wrench into a mortgage servicer's growth plans -- and calls into question whether there are enough nonbanks to absorb all the servicing banks want to sell.
February 10 -
The New York regulator questioned Ocwen's ability to handle more volume after an independent monitor reviewed the mortgage servicer's operations, a person familiar with the situation says.
February 6 -
Lynn E. Szymoniak, famous for helping to uncover the robo-signing scandal, is now suing 22 companies for allegedly creating fraudulent documents and submitting tens of thousands of false claims to HUD.
February 5 -
A little-noticed charge taken by Regions Financial (RF) in the fourth quarter may portend that other banks will take similar losses on such modified loans, known as troubled debt restructurings.
February 3 -
Without naming names, the CFPB said in a report released Thursday that, based on its examinations, servicers made borrowers jump through hoops to qualify for loan modifications and were lax about maintaining accurate records.
January 30 - PH
Lawsky Warms to Bitcoin; Banks Avoid Questionable Customers
January 29 -
Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom and New Zealand are among the countries where local post offices provide a wide range of banking services.
January 28 -
The government-sponsored enterprise is keeping a running list of appraisers that it views as shady and is warning banks and mortgage lenders to be careful about doing business with them.
January 27 -
A new report from Moody's suggests that roughly a dozen regional banks are at risk of sustaining meaningful credit losses on home equity lines of credit that were originated in the boom years and are scheduled to reset over the next three years.
January 21 -
The new "One Deposit Checking" account can be opened with as little as $25. The bank is counting on it to help it sell more products to checking account holders.
January 21 -
Bank of America's chief executive, Brian Moynihan, has come under withering criticism the past few years from skeptics who doubted he could right the ship. After the company reported solid fourth-quarter profits Wednesday, some former doubters appeared to be altering their views.
January 15 -
As competition for home loans heats up, lenders are moving further down the credit curve in order to win business.
January 15 -
The Mortgage Bankers Association has already cut its forecast for mortgage lending this year because of declining loan applications and rising interest rates.
January 14
