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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Mortgage investors say they need more protection from further home price declines than the government is currently offering them in return for allowing loans to be modified.
September 14 -
Richard Davis, U.S. Bancorp's chairman and CEO, takes umbrage at the notion that banks are refusing to lend; B of A names executive chairman of global banking and markets.
September 10 -
HSBC promotes financial literacy on public television; $450 million is raised to buy banks — for their bad loans; and more.
September 9 -
The Treasury Department plans to announce financial incentives for servicers to pursue short sales and deeds in lieu of foreclosure for troubled homeowners who do not qualify for the Obama administration's loan-modification program.
September 8 -
Using Fannie and Freddie as a blueprint for the future of the mortgage industry; Wells Fargo's companywide conference call; a weekly index of refi applications.
September 2 -
Despite years of efforts by the Federal Housing Administration to cut back on red tape, a bias remains against borrowers using FHA financing.
September 2 -
As the largest banking companies try to unload thousands of distressed properties, they are using a controversial practice that can win them new loans and has competitors crying foul.
August 31 -
PMI "embeds" mod specialists at servicers to help distressed borrowers cut through bureaucracy; appraisal-management exec calls HVCC "redundant"; and more.
August 26 -
Industry data and anecdotal evidence suggest banks and servicers have been dragging out the foreclosure process — not rushing to kick people out of their homes.
August 25 -
Among mortgage types, the new-foreclosure rate worsened the most for prime fixed-rate loans in the second quarter, indicating that unemployment has replaced product category as the biggest driver of defaults, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Thursday.
August 20 -
Joseph J. Murin and Brian Montgomery announced Tuesday that they have joined Washington consulting firm, Collingwood Group LLC.
August 18 -
Robert Couch, a former general counsel of the Department of Housing and Urban Development and a former president of the Government National Mortgage Association, has started a company to help banks dispose of real estate assets.
August 14 -
Joseph J. Murin, the president of the Government National Mortgage Association, is stepping down after just over a year at the federal agency.
August 13 -
Good news and bad for nonbanks that rely on warehouse lines; publisher gives N.Y. celeb a sweet mortgage deal; and more.
August 12 -
Two years after it abruptly stopped funding loans, Impac Mortgage Holdings, once a leader in the now-defunct alternative-A market, is coming out of hibernation.
August 11 -
If servicers appear to be failing in their implementation of the Obama administration's loan-modification program, it may be for good reason: Reunderwriting hundreds of thousands of borrowers who got low-or no-documentation mortgages just takes time.
August 7 -
The opposite of a walkaway? Tens of thousands file for bankruptcy to keep their homes — current mortgages intact; and more.
August 5 -
The unraveling of Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage has left hundreds of community banks scrambling to find replacement buyers for their loans. The Ocala, Fla., company, which stopped originating loans Wednesday, has been buying roughly $1 billion of mortgages a month from 600 members of the Independent Community Bankers of America.
August 5 -
Mortgage servicers are urging the Treasury Department to relax some of the requirements of the Obama administration's loan-modification program, claiming the time-consuming process of gathering documents and collecting signatures has become a major impediment.
August 3 -
With private equity becoming harder to raise, investors hoping to clean up from the mortgage market's wreckage are turning to a vehicle that has fallen in and out of vogue over the years: the real estate investment trust. A REIT set up by Private National Mortgage Acceptance raised $335 million through an initial public offering.
July 30
