Unanswered Questions For The Federal Reserve
WORD ON THE STREET: While the Federal Reserve is still far less transparent than it should be, recent disclosures of its lending programs...
Today’s Secondary Market Investors Demand Stricter Quality Control
REQUIRED READING: Sophisticated investors no longer take anything for granted when buying mortgage loans from originators and other sources. Over the last three...
Servicers Find Themselves Hampered By Litigation
REQUIRED READING: An increasing number of borrowers assert a servicer's failure to offer a loan modification under the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP)...
D. Sidney Potter Flips Out
PERSON OF THE WEEK: What would possess a successful commercial real estate broker to rush aggressively into house flipping? In his autobiography, 'The...
Making The Same Mistakes Again And Again
BLOG VIEW: I arrived home from work the other day, opened my mailbox and found a bright yellow envelope waiting for me. The...
CFPB Weighs In On The Servicing Scenario
WORD ON THE STREET: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is not yet open for business. But on July 21, the CFPB will...
Don’t Call It A Comeback
BLOG VIEW: Amidst the tweets about deficit cuts, smart grid innovation and the federal space program, the White House's Twitter Town Hall last...
Operational Improvement: There Is No Time Like The Present
REQUIRED READING: A family friend recently shared her experiences with grocery store 'couponing.' She sparked my interest when she told me she bought...
Allonhill CEO Addresses Servicing Woes And Securities Reform
PERSON OF THE WEEK: Whether you are talking about transparency in servicing or the future of the secondary market, due diligence and risk...
Captain America Vs. Elizabeth Warren
BLOG VIEW: Next week is the premiere of two highly anticipated endeavors: the Hollywood blockbuster 'Captain America: The First Avenger' and the Consumer...
A Community Banker’s View Of Today’s Examination Process
WORD ON THE STREET: I am the president and chairman of a $250 million closely held community bank providing banking services to Sedgwick...
Compiling A Strategic Checklist For The ‘New’ Mortgage Industry
REQUIRED READING: Once upon a time - actually, circa 2005 - the 'future' of the mortgage transaction seemed perfectly clear. A consumer would...
Smaller Banks Find Their Niche In Rural Communities
REQUIRED READING: Last year, the influential agricultural research blog Farmland Forecast peeked into the cross-section of capital markets and rural economies and declared...
Single Point Of Contact Becomes The New Standard
REQUIRED READING: The federal consent orders signed by 14 of the nation's biggest servicers included a slew of new servicing standards, but at...
A Guide To SEC’s Securitization-Reform Agenda
WORD ON THE STREET: In the years leading up to the financial crisis, the nearly $10 trillion securitization market provided liquidity to almost...
Cuts Cause Counselors To Diversify
REQUIRED READING: Eighty-eight million dollars earmarked for housing counseling has been slashed from the fiscal year 2011 budget, leaving nonprofits and the industry...
The Wider World Comes Calling: The Factors Shaping The Industry
REQUIRED READING: The 17th century English poet John Donne famously wrote, 'No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a...
Martin O’Neill Advocates An Entrepreneurial Workforce
PERSON OF THE WEEK: At a time when the economy is stalling, the very last thing that business owners and their managerial teams...
Between Barack And A Hard Place
BLOG VIEW: The 2012 presidential election campaign is speeding up, but in the rush to the White House, it appears that a significant...
The New Risk Agenda
WORD ON THE STREET: During the financial crisis, certain factors at work in the securitization markets distorted incentives for market participants in ways...