The U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) and the State of Alaska’s Division of Insurance ( Alaska DOI ) have announced a legal settlement with Alyeska Title Guaranty Agency for alleged violations of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) and Alaska’s anti-rebating law. HUD and Alaska DOI claim Alyeska paid a sham employee for referring consumers to the title company. Under the terms of the settlement announced, the company agrees to cease the alleged sham employment arrangement and will pay up to $155,000 to the U.S.Read more

The Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) has recommended that the Federal Reserve Board strengthen a proposal to ban routine kickbacks for steering borrowers into unnecessarily risky or expensive home loans. In recent years, these kickbacks (often called "yield-spread premiums") have cost consumers billions of dollars. If finalized as proposed, the kickback ban would apply to mortgage brokers, loan officers, and any party that originates mortgages for lenders who fund the loans.Read more

U.S. District Judge Roger W. Titus has sentenced the president of the Metropolitan Money Store, Joy Jackson, age 41, of Fort Washington, Md., to 151 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release for conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud in connection with a mortgage fraud scheme that falsely promised to help homeowners facing foreclosure keep their homes and repair their damaged credit, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein.Read more

The former director of sales for a Colorado real estate company that built luxury homes throughout California agreed in court papers filed to plead guilty to a federal conspiracy charge, admitting that he and other company officials participated in a $16 million “builder bailout” scheme in which buyers of $1 million-plus homes were paid kickbacks if they purchased homes from the company. Benjamin Serrano, 47, who until recently lived in Parker, Colo., was charged in a criminal information filed this morning.Read more

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has green lighted a proposed class action brought by homebuyers against mortgage lender Countrywide Financial Corporation and its affiliated reinsurer, Balboa Reinsurance Company. The ruling by a three-judge panel in Philadelphia reverses an Eastern District of Pennsylvania order that had granted Countrywide’s motion to dismiss.Read more