Mortgages

New York's highest court may have shut the door to many future lawsuits over flawed mortgage bonds, ruling investors have six years from the day the deal closed to pursue remedies.

The number of vacant and abandoned properties that are in foreclosure decreased in the second quarter, according to a RealtyTrac report.

The mortgage lender Nationstar Mortgage Holdings is pouring a lot of energy into a digital and mobile homebuying platform called Xome. The strategy could attract tech-savvy millennials but carries plenty of risks including whether consumers would be improperly steered to its products.

More than a dozen housing groups are urging lawmakers to pass legislation that would grant lenders a formal grace period for implementing new disclosure forms later this summer, arguing that the industry needs greater certainty than the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has so far provided.

Bank of America will close drive-up teller windows at a dozen branches in Nashville and reduce in-store hours at an additional group of branches, The Tennessean reported.

With the onset of the new integrated disclosures rule, mortgage lenders owe it to their companies to make sure that operations folks have the chance to get out to events and workshops that will keep them informed and updated on new industry requirements.

The California Reinvestment Coalition has called for a federal investigation into the foreclosure policies of OneWest Bank in minority neighborhoods.

The Louisiana Real Estate Appraisers Board has fined an appraisal management company $5,000 for failing to pay "customary and reasonable" fees to appraisers.

How interested banks, REITs and other investors will be in replacing the Federal Reserve as buyers of mortgage-backed securities insured by government-related entities depends on a wide range of regulatory and economic factors.

Guarantee Mortgage Corp. has agreed to pay a $228,000 fine to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on allegations that it violated rules dealing with loan originator compensation.

PHH Corp. has been ordered to pay $109 million over allegations that it illegally accepted kickbacks on reinsurance premium payments after Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray partially overruled a decision previously made by an administrative law judge.

The regulatory burden for originators has not only been the main driver of acquisition activity in mortgages but also influences deal structures. Acquirers are looking to craft transactions so they don't get burned by targets' compliance lapses.

RPM Mortgage and its chief executive are facing $20 million in fines on allegations that the company violated the loan originator compensation law enforced by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Rep. Edward Royce, R-Calif., urged fellow House members Wednesday to support a Senate proposal that would make significant reforms to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The CFPB gave little ground in its pledge Wednesday to be "sensitive" to lenders that make a "good-faith effort" to comply with new mortgage disclosure rules that go into effect in August. The agency's statements fell short of a formal grace period that the industry and lawmakers had been demanding.

t's no grace period, but the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is working placate lender fears of hasty enforcement of its new integrated disclosure rules.

After a "landmark" first-quarter driven by mortgage origination gains, Flagstar Bancorp is counting on mortgage servicing and community banking to spur future growth.