House Financial Services Committee Ranking Member Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-AL) has issued a statement as President Barack Obama signed the the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (HR 4173) into law. The Senate, last week, passed HR 4173 by a vote of 60-39.Read more

The U.S. Senate has announced the passage of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (HR 4173) by a vote of 60-39. The 2,300-plus-page bill, HR 4173, will address the problems that led to the nation's economic collapse, will add new regulators to analyze any potential economic crisis situations in the future; create a federal bureau in charge of consumer protection; and adopt new regulations designed to end the practices that contributed to the American economic downturn.Read more

On the day the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission held hearings on the role credit rating agencies play in the economic meltdown, Sen. Al Franken (D-MN); Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA); Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray and James Lardner, senior policy analyst at Demos, called for ensuring the financial reform bill keeps strong accountability measures for credit rating agencies. The raters were all too ready to slap AAA ratings on risky securities sold by the banks that paid their fees.Read more

Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECMs) and private reverse mortgages gave birth to a new asset class, but the sharp financial minds on Wall Street missed this seminal event for almost a decade. Then in 1998, Lehman Brothers tapped a young investment banker to start its reverse mortgage business, the first on Wall Street.Read more

The National Association of Mortgage Brokers (NAMB) is attempting to link valuation fraud to the Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC). I wish NAMB would give up the ghost on trying to stop HVCC because it is depleting NAMB’s resources. As a member of NAMB, I would rather see NAMB place its efforts on membership, training/certifications, and fight proposed legislation like HR 4173, Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.Read more

For good reasons, it is open season on Wall Street, bankers and their sidekicks in the mortgage-lending food chain, but Americans still value balance and fairness in their public discourse. That is why I believe “Sub-Prime Revisited,” the ‘report’ released on Oct. 6 by the National Consumer Law Center, is a one-sided editorial with a regulatory policy agenda built on generalizations and extrapolations.Read more

The U.S. House of Representatives will take up HR 4173 within days. The measure provides for the long awaited reform of Wall Street and creates the Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA). The legislative team of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers (NAMB) worked hard in protecting the ability of consumers, at their option, to finance agreed upon mortgage broker compensation in their mortgage rate thereby preserving a long-standing important option for consumers. Such language was included in the manager's amendment to the bill.Read more

Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray has filed a lawsuit against Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s and Fitch, three national agencies that are responsible for providing accurate credit ratings of investments. The lawsuit, filed in United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio on behalf of five Ohio public employee retirement and pension funds, charges the rating agencies with wreaking havoc on U.S. financial markets by providing unjustified and inflated ratings of mortgage-backed securities in exchange for lucrative fees from securities issuers.Read more

NewOak Capital announces the appointment of Jay Lown as managing director and senior member of the financial institutions group. He will be responsible for coordinating all activities relating to the U.S. government-related mortgage lending programs through Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the FHA, as well as developing mortgage advisory solutions and focusing on the bank advisory and recapitalization at NewOak Capital.Read more

What do you do when the phone stops ringing? When wholesale lenders fold? Guidelines are tightening to unbearable levels? When home prices plummet? When government regulation is agonizing? For the last several years, it has been a broker’s market. If you opened an office and provided good service, the phone rang and you earned a nice living. Well, Mr. and Mrs. Cleaver … Wally and the Beav are losing their home in Mayfield!Read more