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 FHA proposed changes Monday to reduce the risk to its insurance funds, which have fallen below the congressionally mandated capital reserve ratio of 2%.
November 30 -
Delinquencies rise at Freddie Mac; credit bureaus "score" a court victory over FICO; making securitizations more transparent; and more.
November 24 -
Citigroup is reporting a higher redefault rate on home loans it has modified and signs of heightened risk in its servicing portfolio.
November 24 -
In another dismal quarterly report, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Thursday that the share of all loans that were either 30 days or more delinquent or in foreclosure soared to 14.4% in the third quarter, the highest rate in 38 years.
November 19 -
Servicing is where the action — and government money — has gravitated. "It's a critical mass that gets IBM's attention," says a former insider.
November 19 -
Michael A. Carpenter, GMAC Inc.'s newly installed chief executive, says his top priority is to stop its troubled mortgage unit from dragging down the rest of the $178 billion-asset company.
November 17 -
GMAC Inc. announced Monday that Al de Molina has resigned as its chief executive and from the board. Michael A. Carpenter, a director, succeeded de Molina as CEO of the troubled auto and mortgage lender.
November 16 -
GMAC's Al de Molina on ResCap brouhaha; BlackRock's Larry Fink on what caused the subprime crisis; appraisal trade group responds to criticism.
November 11 -
Mortgage servicers dramatically increased the number of trial loan modifications offered to borrowers under the Making Home Affordable program in October, but the number of permanent mods remained small.
November 10 -
Al de Molina, CEO of GMAC Inc. has a message for the rest of the industry: receiving $12.5 billion of government bailout funds (and counting) does not give GMAC an advantage over other banks.
November 9 -
PHH Corp.'s net loss narrowed in the third quarter but the mortgage outsourcer was plagued by credit charges and a drop in the value of its servicing portfolio from higher delinquencies and foreclosures.
November 5 -
Already a flash point of controversy over its online bank's high deposit rates and negative advertising, GMAC Inc. is now ruffling feathers by cutting back on disclosures about its troubled mortgage arm.
November 4 -
Home lenders face some tough staffing choices, with business expected to drop 40% to 60% next year. Optimistic companies will consider holding on to employees in the hope that a pickup in home-purchase loans will offset a probable decline in refinancings.
November 3 -
Jerome J. Selitto, the newly installed chief executive at PHH Corp., has far-reaching plans to resuscitate the mortgage outsourcer, starting with its funding sources and cost structure.
October 28 -
A week after Federal Housing Administration Commissioner David Stevens vowed to remove "bad apples" from the agency's roster of lenders, he started with Ideal Mortgage Bankers Ltd., a Melville, N.Y., lender that does business as Lend America.
October 21 -
At the mortgage industry's biggest gathering of the year, servicers went out of their way to lower expectations for the government's loan modification program.
October 16 -
Banks ready to pick up slack as Fed retreats from MBS market; FHA commissioner David Stevens gives history lesson; new Freddie chief weeds out "green shoot" hopes.
October 14 -
Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase want to expand a government program designed to prevent foreclosures by adding a feature popular during the bubble years: interest-only periods.
October 14 -
Fannie Mae tried to jump-start the housing market by loosening mortgage guidelines for real estate investors. Eight months on, few banks or lenders have followed suit.
October 9 -
Earlier this year, when Fannie Mae tried to jump-start the housing market by loosening mortgage guidelines for real estate investors, banks and other lenders were widely expected to follow suit. Eight months later, almost none of them have.
October 9
