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 government is extending more relief to unemployed homeowners who are struggling to pay their mortgages. Beginning this month, mortgage servicers are required to put unemployed borrowers whose loans are not owned by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac on forbearance plans that defer mortgage payments. (The government-sponsored enterprises each have their own plans that defer payments for unemployed borrowers for up to six months.)
July 2 -
The GES announced several changes aimed at improving the quality of appraisals, part of a wider effort within the lending industry to reduce the pressure on appraisers to overvalue homes to help loans get completed.
July 1 -
Illinois attorney general sues Countrywide; Freddie Mac blames loan buybacks on management at banks and lenders; MBA's vacant properties register is well-received.
June 30 -
Independent mortgage bankers earned $1,135 on each single-family loan they originated in 2009, compared with an average profit of $305 per loan in 2008, according to a Mortgage Bankers Association report.
June 29 -
Most bankers agree that online lending applications can attract customers and drive up volume, but few actually offer such services.
June 29 -
Calling its own techniques "outdated," the Federal Housing Administration is looking for outside help to prevent defaults in its $760 billion single-family mortgage portfolio.
June 17 - PH
The backlash is intensifying against banks and mortgage servicers that try to foreclose on homes without all their ducks in a row.
June 15 -
Many proposed refinancings and purchase loans have been scuttled because the appraiser could not find enough comparable sales of similar homes, compounding the slide in home lending.
June 14 -
Banks and mortgage servicers are not repossessing a massive backlog of distressed properties, which is likely to further depress home prices and prolong the housing crisis.
June 11 -
Banks and mortgage servicers are not repossessing a massive backlog of distressed properties, which is likely to further depress home prices and prolong the housing crisis.
June 11 -
Fed economists count underwater borrowers as renters to calculate homeownership rate; with tax credit gone, purchase apps crater; and more.
June 9 -
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have begun modifying loans for a group of borrowers too well off to qualify for the Obama administration's program.
June 8 -
At one meeting, "people looked at me like I was a three-headed monster," Clifford Rossi recalls.
June 3 -
The largest online mortgage lender expands to include FHA loans; a member of the SourceMedia family has a play opening downtown this weekend; and more.
June 2 -
Bank of America Corp. said Wednesday that most of the home-mortgage borrowers it had planned to offer principal reductions under a company program will instead be funneled to a government initiative that gives the servicer incentive payments.
June 2 -
FHFA disputes FHA chief's market share claims; Fannie's non-optional option for lenders; Florida judge derides the "chaos" of "Foreclosure World."
May 26 -
"Our appraisal quality and timeliness has gone up, not down," says one lender who gave the job of ordering appraisals to employees outside the sales force.
May 26 -
In a surprise reversal, the delinquency rate on single-family mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration has fallen in each of the last three months amid record volume.
May 24 -
The Treasury Department extended the deadline to Sept. 30 for mortgage servicers to sign Sarbanes-Oxley Act-type agreements certifying that they are in compliance with the Making Home Affordable Program.
May 21 -
A year ago, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac became de facto legislators of industrywide standards for home appraisals. Soon they will be front-line enforcers, too.
May 20
