Mortgages

The settlement with an insurer over Countrywide's mortgage-backed securities closes another chapter on what quickly proved to be an ill-advised acquisition for Bank of America. A trial on the case had kicked off last month.

The credit scoring firm takes issue with an article questioning changes to its scoring model.

After resolving a longstanding consent order from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and a shareholder lawsuit, Sterling Bank's CEO — an experienced turnaround artist — says the bank is largely done fixing the fallout from its fraud-ridden Advantage Loan program.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency got an earful from housing experts at a listening session intended to aid a comprehensive review of the financing system.

Investors are looking past the current boom in loan activity, fearing that inflation and other factors will cool demand and make it harder for borrowers to make payments.

Western Alliance, in its first appearance on the list of leading banks with more than $50 billion of assets, landed at No. 1. The Phoenix company and the other top performers in this class have either created niche businesses, made acquisitions or done both.

Investor activity in the housing market has had a nominal impact on the cost of housing, the head of the National Rental Home Council writes, citing research by one of the government-sponsored enterprises. Supply-demand imbalance is the primary driver of price appreciation, he argues.

The middle of a housing market downturn is no time to experiment with untested underwriting tools.