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 Supreme Court has agreed to hear a Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act case whose outcome could shield banks and other lenders from litigation under a wide range of federal and state laws.
June 23 -
Robert J. Shiller recently spoke with American Banker about his glum outlook on housing and why the qualified residential mortgage rule might not be such a bad thing for banks.
June 21 -
Fitch Inc. on Friday downgraded the ratings of nine mortgage servicers citing the growing burden of managing delinquent and defaulted loans amid a climate of "heightened regulatory scrutiny."
June 10 -
Fitch Inc. on Friday downgraded the ratings of nine mortgage servicers citing the growing burden of managing delinquent and defaulted loans amid a climate of "heightened regulatory scrutiny."
June 10 -
Home purchases have picked up in the last few weeks in Phoenix and Las Vegas, a sign that some of the hardest-hit housing markets may have hit bottom.
June 10 -
Home purchases have picked up in the last few weeks in Phoenix and Las Vegas, a sign that some of the hardest-hit housing markets may have hit bottom.
June 10 -
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.
June 8 -
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.
June 6 -
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.
June 5 -
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.
June 1 -
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.
May 26 -
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.
May 26 -
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.
May 25 -
Regulators' mortgage servicing consent orders require big banks to conduct a thorough review of their foreclosures. On Friday they were told what "thorough" means.
May 20 -
Regulators' mortgage servicing consent orders require big banks to conduct a thorough review of their foreclosures. On Friday they were told what "thorough" means.
May 20 -
Florida foreclosure courts losing "rocket dockets" in July due to lack of funding; states cracking down on disciplinary actions against appraisers; and more.
May 18 -
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."
May 17 -
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.
May 11 -
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.
May 9 -
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.
May 4
