Bank of Commerce in Oklahoma has selected Wolters Kluwer Financial Services and the company's ComplianceOne solution to document its lending transactions. ComplianceOne is a single, integrated documentation solution that Wolters Kluwer says will allow Bank of Commerce to manage compliance with loan and deposit account transactions faster and more efficiently.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury added three members to its senior leadership lineup for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray will lead the enforcement team. In addition, Federal Reserve Director Leonard Chanin will oversee the rule writing team, and former AFL-CIO Director David Silberman will head the card markets division.

Senior technology leadership is now in place for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) implementation team, according to an announcement from the Treasury Department. Tim Duncan will lead technology operations, and David Forrest will lead the online engagement team. Currently housed at Treasury, the CFPB will have statutory oversight of mortgage lending and the power to set new rules for home loans and other consumer-facing credit products.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie signed A. 2861 into law last week, banning Wall Street Home Resale Fees, or private transfer fees. New Jersey becomes the 19th state to restrict the use of these fees. On the federal level, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has issued guidance that restricts Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from investing in mortgages with these fees. A bill currently being considered in the House would ban the fees across the country.

Recent Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data released by the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) revealed that 11 percent of lenders doubled their volume during the 2009 calendar year. Of those lenders, 40 percent use HMDA and compliance software from QuestSoft. One San Diego-based lender says QuestSoft's technology has cut the time needed to geocode and prepare its quarterly regulatory reports by 90 percent.

CitiMortgage will host a mortgage assistance call-a-thon on Wednesday for customers who have concerns about paying their mortgages. The event begins at 7 a.m. on December 15, and continues until 1 a.m. on the morning of Thursday, December 16, EST. CitiMortgage borrowers can call the company's foreclosure prevention centers for information and advice during these expanded customer service hours. Foreclosure prevention experts will staff the event, but senior managers and supervisors will be on hand to provide additional support.

Houston-based Stewart Title Company has opened a new regional production center for enhanced title search services in Nampa, Idaho. The new center will serve Idaho's Treasure Valley as well as parts of Oregon and Washington. The company explained that the new facility will allows it to provide centralized title search services as well as an improved customer experience with virtually paperless transactions through the use of Stewart's proprietary technology, SureClose.

Former First American and Chicago Title executive Dawn Svedberg has joined Valuation Partners, a Texas-headquartered national appraisal management company, as VP and national account executive. With more than 24 years of appraisal and mortgage industry experience, Svedberg is responsible for broadening the company's sales reach in the western United States.

According to the latest market data on the Baltimore-Washington metro housing market, RealEstate Business Intelligence (RBI) reports that pricing patterns are stabilizing while sales activity continues to slump. RBI's data reveals that the median home price in the Baltimore-Washington metro area has remained constant at $265,000, unchanged from October 2010 and 4.7 percent higher than $253,000 in November 2009.

According to a study released by Fannie Mae, most Americans strongly desire to own a home, but a number of factors, including financial caution and shrinking households, continue to contribute to a willingness to rent. According to the study findings, 51 percent of current owners and renters say the housing crisis has not affected their overall willingness to buy a home over the long term. However, one-third say they are more likely to rent their next home than buy.