Home loan borrowers may now submit a mortgage complaint online with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the recently-launched government agency fathered by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank). The online mortgage complaint form allows borrowers to write the details of their case as well as upload supporting documents. (Online chat [...]

A digest of recent court cases affecting real estate.

Appraisers who were under third-party contract with appraisal management company (AMC) AppraiserLoft are holding millions of dollars in unpaid invoices for work completed within the past few months. Now-defunct AppraiserLoft’s CEO blamed the flat-line real estate market for the precipitous decline in appraisals, causing the company to eliminate nearly the entire staff and unexpectedly terminate [...]

This article reviews a newly-developed Fair Issac Company (FICO) analytics model which predicts a borrower’s likelihood to exercise a strategic default and revisits the financial advantages of a strategic default for a negative equity homeowner.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is taking action against mortgage companies who discriminate against expectant mothers applying for a loan or home mortgage insurance. Multiple investigations of lending practices last July triggered HUD’s recent action to enforce the Federal Fair Housing Act (FFHA), which prohibits discriminatory actions in housing based on [...]

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) revealed its first two prototypes for a simpler mortgage disclosure form which the fledgling agency hopes will alleviate lender costs and borrower confusion. In spite of the CFPB’s optimism, groups from every direction – including first tuesday – are throwing out their take on the mortgage disclosure form makeover. [...]

California is expecting the arrival of a Mortgage Fraud Strike Force, essentially a band of attorneys appointed the mission of pursuing civil and criminal cases of mortgage fraud, says the California Department of Justice. The strike force will consist of 17 attorneys and eight special agents who will investigate violations of every step in the [...]

Annual default premiums (MIPs) on 30-year Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-insured loans for homebuyers with less than 5% down payment rose to 1.1 or 1.15% of the home value from 0.85 or 0.9%, effective April 18, 2011. For a homebuyer paying the minimum 3.5% down payment on a $400,000 home, the FHA’s recent increase in MIPs [...]

A digest of recent court cases affecting real estate.

‘Short-Refi Program’ application numbers are rising as lenders sign up to participate, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) reported last week. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) received 387 applications and endorsed 89 cases as of March 11, 2011, close to double the volume from the previous week. The FHA commissioner also confirmed 23 [...]