Why The Justice Department Is Suing S&P
WORD ON THE STREET: Standard & Poor's Rating Services (S&P) is the largest credit rating agency in the world. As such, it plays...
The Challenges Facing Community Banks – Part Two
REQUIRED READING: While much of the Federal Reserve's regulatory work recently has involved implementing the requirements of the Dodd-Frank Act, we are also...
The Challenges Facing Community Banks – Part One
REQUIRED READING: I hear from a lot of community bankers who are concerned that the community banking model might not survive. Many paint...
Melissa Young: Urban Renewal, Detroit-Style
PERSON OF THE WEEK: Detroit has seen more than its fair share of socioeconomic problems, and macroeconomic solutions have mostly failed to work...
The Unsinkable Edward DeMarco
BLOG VIEW: There is an old joke that claims the only indestructible forces that will be able to survive a nuclear war are...
The OCC’s Priorities
WORD ON THE STREET: It has been a year and a half now since most of the people and most of the functions...
Ready For The Next Challenge: A Field Services Odyssey
REQUIRED READING: For as long as most mortgage default servicing industry veterans care to remember, the duties of the field services professionals -...
REO Insurance Remains Consistent Amid Extreme Industry Changes
REQUIRED READING: After Hurricane Sandy crashed through the Northeast in late October, the level of destruction created by the monster storm created deep...
Jeff Moyer: How To Run A Successful Sales Operation
PERSON OF THE WEEK: If anything, Jeff Moyer is certainly versatile when it comes to selling. Prior to becoming president of Agoura Hills,...
Eric Holder’s Unsteady Pursuit Of S&P
BLOG VIEW: Last Tuesday, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder used a press conference to announce the U.S. Department of Justice's (DOJ) civil lawsuit...
The Economy: It’s Getting Better, But…
WORD ON THE STREET: The U.S. economy has grown at an average 2.2% annual rate since the recovery officially began in June 2009....
CSI: Mortgage Banking
REQUIRED READING: Over the course of the past several years, the mortgage meltdown has given rise to a new risk management landscape. Mortgage...
When A Vendor’s Mistake Becomes Your Responsibility
REQUIRED READING: In April 2012, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued Bulletin 2012-03, which said in regard to violations of consumer financial...
Tim Anderson: Signing On The Digital Dotted Line
PERSON OF THE WEEK: For many years, there was talk about migrating mortgage banking from a paper-driven endeavor to an electronic environment. And...
Can Federal Housing Policy Get Sillier Than This?
BLOG VIEW: I used to be under the belief that federal housing finance policy was merely incompetent. I was wrong. It is beyond...
Why The CFPB Issued Its New Lending Rules
WORD ON THE STREET: Just a few years ago, our country went through the greatest financial crisis since the Great Depression. One of...
The Five Major Assignment Errors And How To Avoid Them
REQUIRED READING: John Maynard Keynes once wrote, 'It is better to be roughly right than to be precisely wrong.' However, Keynes never worked...
How The Power Of Fear Drives Today’s Due Diligence
REQUIRED READING: Back in 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt took over the presidency by declaring to the nation, 'The only thing we have to...
Diane Lang On ‘Retraining’ Your Brain To Handle Stressful Environments
PERSON OF THE WEEK: It can be difficult to accentuate the positive when surrounded by the negative. And in the past few years,...
We Are Still Paying For Bernanke’s Biggest Goof
BLOG VIEW: Question: How many Federal Reserve leaders does it take to screw in a light bulb? Answer: After reading the transcripts of...