Servicing

The Atlanta bank had previously failed compliance metrics in five straight quarters before passing them last year, according to the settlement's monitor.

As other banks de-emphasize mortgage lending, Citizens is spending half a billion dollars to buy a large originator with a big servicing portfolio.

Credit unions may be able to reach more underserved consumers through partnerships with an unlikely ally.

Banking and mortgage groups are asking the Federal Communications Commission to issue new Telephone Consumer Protection Act rules that would make consumer lawsuits over robocalls harder to win.

Freddie Mac has quietly started extending credit to nonbanks that issue mortgages, a move it says will help the companies maintain access to a crucial stockpile of cash if their home loans go sour.

However, mortgage growth and servicing income weren't the only reasons profits rose by double digits at the Dallas bank.

Results were also aided by strong growth in residential construction, commercial and equipment financing.

Banks would welcome a proposal to loosen Basel III capital restrictions because it would make holding mortgage servicing rights easier and stem the recent exodus of depositories from the servicing business, executives said.

Despite soaring home prices, other factors needed to inflate a housing bubble are absent from the real estate market. But experts warn falling home values and rising mortgage defaults are inevitable, even if conditions naturally cool off.

Servicers are still trying to figure out how they can best take advantage of the growing use of electronic notes and other digital mortgage tools by lenders and the secondary market.