Government

Legislators heard--or perhaps misheard--customers when they grumbled about ATM fees and clamped down even though there is a logical argument for them. Now, a new fee opportunity for major banks comes in the form of pay cards--debit cards loaded with your take-home pay each time you get paid. Workers must pay a fee to access their own wages and may be charged a fee for not using the card. The pay cards slither under, over, or around the definitions resulting from Dodd Frank for fees banks are permitted to charge for credit and debit cards or even for store cards.

The city of Las Vegas partnered with Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto in addressing the state's housing crisis by contributing $100,000 for a homeowner relief program initiated by the attorney general. The contribution came from the city's HUD grant funds and will be used to increase awareness of Home Again.

Adding new pressures for the Federal Reserve, the nation's economy added 195,000 jobs in June, leaving the unemployment rate unchanged at 7.6.percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. While the unemployment rate was unchanged, the broader employment-population ratio improved to 58.7 percent. The Fed has been looking to improvements in the labor market for a sign it should begin to reduce its program of stimulative monetary policy.

Principal forbearance, a loan modification practice in which a loan servicer allows a borrower to delay payment on his/her loan for a specified period of time, apparently poses an accounting conundrum. While some servicers report forborne principal as a loss at the time of the loan modification, others wait until the time of liquidation. Ocwen, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and One West all report forbearance amounts as losses at the time of the loan modification.

Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey showed the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaging 4.29 percent (0.7 point) for the week ending July 3, down from last week's two-year high of 4.46 percent. The 15-year FRM averaged 3.39 percent (0.7 percent), down from 3.50 percent the previous week. Bankrate's weekly national survey showed similar trends, with the 30-year fixed falling to 4.48 percent.

The Basel III reforms were created to address ""shortcomings in capital requirements, particularly for larger, internationally active banking organizations, that became apparent during the recent financial crisis."" The Fed also announced a number of changes in the rule designed to address concerns about the regulatory burden on smaller community banks.

First-time claims for unemployment insurance fell for the fourth time in the last five weeks, dropping 5,000 to 343,000 for week ending June 29, the Labor Department reported Wednesday. Economists expected 345,000 claims. Claims filings for the week ending June 22 were revised up to 348,000 from the originally reported 346,000.

Fitch Ratings has observed inconsistencies in the way servicers report losses in cases of principal forbearance. According to the agency, before 2010, pooling and servicing agreements did not require servicers to report forborne principal as losses. Nationstar Mortgage announced it is revising losses on loans with principal forbearances acquired in 2012 from Aurora Bank FSB and Aurora Loan Services.

A North Dakota judge sentenced two officers from an Arizona mortgage originator for their roles in a $28 million scheme to defraud North Dakota-based BNC National Bank.

So far, efforts from the GSEs have led to nearly 2.8 million foreclosure prevention actions since the start of the September 2008 conservatorship, the FHFA reported Monday. The agency also found the serious delinquency rate for GSE borrowers decreased to 3 percent compared to 8 percent for Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans. However, more than half of the GSEs' seriously delinquent borrowers were past due by at least a year in the first quarter.