Kate Berry

Bank of America says it can rebuild its share of the home loan market as rates rise, but its mortgage business relies more on refinancings than at other big banks.

On Tuesday the law firm Morrison & Foerster announced that it has hired Donald Lampe, who headed Dykema's financial services regulatory and compliance team, as a partner.

There is little proof that a doubling of guarantee fees in the last year by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac has brought private investors back into the mortgage market, says the FHFA's inspector general in a new report.

The law firm BuckleySandler has beefed up its financial services practice with the addition of three heavy-hitting litigators all lured away from Dykema Gossett PLLC.

Delays in foreclosures — and in reimbursements to banks — are buying the beleaguered Federal Housing Administration more time to build its cash reserves.

Six regulatory agencies on Wednesday issued a proposal that would exempt three types of higher-priced mortgage loans from appraisal requirements.

For years banks treated certificates of deposit almost as an afterthought. But with loan demand expected to pick up with the economy, some are eyeing ways to lock investors into longer-term CDs now — before rates inevitably rise.

The strengthening economy helped, but the improvement in credit quality was also aided by the sale of poor-performing loans to servicers that are outside the federal banking system.

Issuers are adding another layer of protection at a time when lawmakers are examining how to wind down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and bring private capital back into the mortgage market.

Ambiguous language in the 2012 national mortgage settlement has caused widespread confusion about the legality of foreclosing on delinquent borrowers who have filed paperwork on mortgage modifications.

Freddie Mac plans to eliminate a $7,500 annual low-activity fee that has met with a backlash among rural banks that sell a small number of loans each year to the government-sponsored enterprise.

Banks are sitting on hundreds of thousands of vacant homes that are in foreclosure and repossessed properties at a time when housing inventory is at a low point, RealtyTrac said.

Housing Secretary Shaun Donovan and four state attorneys general vowed to hold banks to the terms of the settlement while saying more institutions were likely to shortly join their ranks.

The big five servicers technically passed the first test of their compliance with the $25 billion national mortgage settlement, but four of them failed to meet at least one requirement and the settlement's monitor received nearly 60,000 complaints.

To keep costs down, insurers are exercising their right under the Affordable Care Act to insist consumers pay their premiums via automatic bank withdrawal. The Department of Health and Human Services is scrambling to make insurers accept plastic.

U.S. Bank's incoming mortgage president Rick Aneshansel argues that purchase volume will not make up for the drop in refinancing, and that some lenders will have little choice but to quit the business or pair up with a competitor.

A sales pitch from Bank of America implies that its refinancing offer is in the borrower's best interest. Never mind that it would raise the customer's interest rate and add 10 years to the overall life of the loan.

The $42 million pact is the first of its kind to resolve complaints that a mortgage servicer treated foreclosed homes differently based on the racial composition of the neighborhood.

The nation's largest home lender is ramping up marketing of a credit card that has helped customers eliminate $50 million of mortgage debt.

Freddie says its new "low-activity" fee will offset the cost of monitoring the loans it buys, but avoiding it could be a challenge for lenders in rural markets.