Kate Berry

Mortgage broker lobbies to expunge medical debts from credit reports; fraudster spends ill-gotten gains on plastic surgery; wrongfully foreclosed-on homeowners turn tables on B of A.

By buying Litton Loan Servicing LP from Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Ocwen Financial Corp. is betting scale will remain the driver of mortgage servicing profits after regulators overhaul servicer compensation.

A drop in mortgage lending volumes to the lowest level in over a decade is forcing lenders to consider new cost cuts and staff reductions.

Bank of America is foreclosing on a Florida office building where the main tenant is … Bank of America; penny-wise and pound foolish mortgage servicers.

Bank of America Corp. will pay $20 million and Morgan Stanley $2.35 million for improperly foreclosing on members of the military — some of whom were on active duty in Iraq and Afghanistan — under a settlement with the Department of Justice.

CoreLogic quantifies the share of short sale transactions that should make lenders say "hmmm"; distressed transactions still drive much of the housing market; and more.

Loan repurchase requests from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are finally tapering off. Unfortunately for lenders, a crackdown by the Federal Housing Administration is filling the void.

Regulators' mortgage servicing consent orders require big banks to conduct a thorough review of their foreclosures. On Friday they were told what "thorough" means.

Regulators' mortgage servicing consent orders require big banks to conduct a thorough review of their foreclosures. On Friday they were told what "thorough" means.

Florida foreclosure courts losing "rocket dockets" in July due to lack of funding; states cracking down on disciplinary actions against appraisers; and more.

For now, regulators are letting banks hold fees steady. But in a shaky housing market, the banks are demanding more research from appraisers, who complain of "scope creep."

The FDIC files suit against two companies for failure to provide oversight of appraisal; new report finds evidence of redlining on refi loans in communities of color.

When Noel Watts, the vice president of mortgage banking at Marshall & Ilsley Bank, set out to upgrade the lender's origination platform two years ago, he expected interest rates to rise and mortgage volume to plummet.

The city says the German bank has become "one of the largest slumlords" in town. Deutsche Bank says L.A.'s blaming the wrong party and that the bank's just an MBS trustee.

With sales weak, Beazer Homes, a top builder, resorts to buying distressed properties in Phoenix and renting them out; B of A exec drops science about short sales; and more.

The South Carolina Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered a 90-day halt to all pending foreclosures in the state, to give banks and borrowers more time to pursue loss mitigation.

Loan officers can "educate" real estate agents about the short-sale process, B of A says, but some interpret that pitch as a subtle hint they should send loan business to the bank.

Ally Financial, poised to go public later this year and repay the rest of its bailout funds, reported lower quarterly income in its auto- and home-lending units.

The GSEs will introduce new financial penalties and incentives to encourage mortgage servicers to pursue loan modifications and other alternatives to foreclosure.

Billions of dollars of delinquent FHA-insured loans held on balance sheets are looking more like shadow nonperformers, and banks are unlikely to be fully reimbursed for losses.