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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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 -
Some banks will be leery about originating loans to the self-employed because they can't document their ability to repay, but others insist that such loans, even outside of QM, are too lucrative to ignore.
January 10 -
In his first major move as head of the agency that oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, ex-Rep. Mel Watt said Wednesday that he will delay a planned fee hike that would have raised the cost of most home loans backed by the government-sponsored enterprises.
January 8 -
In his first major move as head of the agency that oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, ex-Rep. Mel Watt said Wednesday that he will delay a planned fee hike that would have raised the cost of most home loans backed by the government-sponsored enterprises.
January 8 -
Despite the risks, lenders have calculated that certain loans that fall outside of QM are worth making and holding on their balance sheets.
January 7 -
Bank of the West said Monday it will continue to offer interest-only mortgages to borrowers even though such loans are excluded from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's qualified mortgage rule that goes into effect Jan. 10.
January 6
