Law and regulation

Now that the agency overseeing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac has revealed the reasoning behind its stubborn opposition to mortgage principal reduction, the problems with its argument are clear.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development alleged Monday that Bank of America imposed "unnecessary and burdensome" requirements on borrowers who relied on disability income to qualify for home loans.

Fannie Mae is offering to sell nearly 2,500 foreclosed properties to investors as part of a new federal initiative to aid the housing market by selling off distressed properties in bulk, the Federal Housing Finance Agency said Monday.

In an unusual step, foreign governments stretching across three continents have written to U.S. regulators calling for significant changes in how rule is implemented.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has decided to shift course before finalizing changes to the good faith estimate form, a project the bureau has been working on diligently since last summer.

Regulators have bombarded mortgage servicers with a flurry of new regulations and government programs in the past year, heaping on tasks and costly reviews. Now they're asking to hear the mortgage companies' complaints.

"Confidence was so shattered that banks were holding vast unlent sums, and businesses did not want to invest in new capital even though interest rates were at abnormally low levels…The general loss in confidence was the main cause of the low demand, and thus the low level of employment."

Extending the law that provides unlimited deposit insurance on non-interest bearing demand deposits would send a signal that just maybe the industry is not fully healthy and still needs support.

In recent months at least 650 thrift institutions have experienced a change in supervisory agency from the Office of Thrift Supervision to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency as mandated by Dodd-Frank. Also, thrift holding companies now come under the supervision of the Federal Reserve Board.

A move to revise the Credit Finance Business Act and allow South Korea’s financial regulator to set the commission rates card firms collect from merchants has met with strong opposition.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development said Monday that it has charged Bank of America Corp. with discriminating against disabled home buyers by asking them for medical information and proof of federal disability income.

North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem is warning residents of the state to be on alert for criminals posing as payday loan operators and debt collectors.

The Dime Savings Bank of Williamsburgh announced that it intends to convert from a federally chartered thrift supervised by the OCC to a state-chartered thrift to be supervised by New York State Department of Financial Services.

The amount the Michigan company ends up paying will depend on whether its financial footing improves.

The perfect metaphor for the housing crisis sits, ignominiously, off the coast of Italy. That lumbering hulk of a ship – the once Grand Concordia — is stuck, half sunk, going nowhere, and the prospects for the situation improving are problematic at best. Refloat? Scrap? Maritime experts are weighing the pros and cons, but I think there's general agreement about siphoning off the fuel before a possible leak turns pristine waters into a very toxic mess.

Two banks failed on Friday, with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. only finding a buyer for one of the fallen institutions.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is under pressure to let borrowers have the right to sue servicers even if they receive compensation under the foreclosure review process.

Flagstar Bancorp Friday agreed to pay up to $132.8 million to settle civil-fraud charges lodged by the Department of Justice that accused the bank of improperly approving loans for government insurance.

American Express Co., the largest credit-card issuer by spending, is facing an enforcement action by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and possibly the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau over late fees it charged some charge-card customers, the company said Friday in a regulatory filing.

WASHINGTON — The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. will report the industry's full 2011 earnings Tuesday in the agency's regular quarterly update.