Underwriting

Despite rising home prices and a market where many older homeowners are loath to sell, home equity line of credit lending remains muted in all but one corner of the industry: credit unions.

Picking a new benchmark for adjustable-rate mortgages is the easy part. Industrywide implementation is where things get tricky.

PHH Corp. will pay the Justice Department $75 million to settle a False Claims Act investigation of its underwriting practices on government-insured mortgages and loans sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's final rule to formalize guidance on a number of TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosures compliance points omits an originally proposed fix for the so-called black hole that's created when a mortgage closing is delayed.

The Trump administration's Justice Department was expected to be less aggressive in its pursuit of False Claims Act cases against the mortgage industry. Instead, its focus has shifted to Federal Housing Administration-insured reverse mortgages.