Government

After a four-month-long search process, Freddie Mac announced Tuesday that its board of directors named finance industry veteran Charles E. Haldeman, Jr. as the company’s new CEO and has elected him as a member of the board – a move that was widely expected, as DSNews.

Herb Allison, the Treasury’s new assistant secretary for financial stability and former CEO of Fannie Mae, told lawmakers at a Senate Banking Committee hearing last week that the administration is considering another housing proposal that would require lenders to allow previous homeowners to stay in their foreclosed homes as renters.

Wells Fargo says in the first half of 2009, through lower rates, refinances, and modifications, it alone has helped nearly one million American homeowners lower their mortgage payments or restructure their mortgage.

Purchasers of single-family foreclosed homes offered through Freddie Mac’s HomeSteps division will receive a comprehensive two-year home warranty paid for by Freddie Mac, the company announced Monday.

Subprime mortgage servicer Ocwen Financial Corporation announced Thursday that Steven B. Nesmith has joined the company as SVP and assistant general counsel for strategic and government initiatives. Nesmith was most recently a partner at Holland & Knight where he served in the affordable housing, financial services, and international trade practice areas.

The number of mortgage servicers under contract to perform government-sanctioned loan modifications as part of the administration’s Making Home Affordable program has expanded to 27. The nation’s largest lenders – JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citi, the Bank of America-Countrywide conglomerate, and GMAC – have agreed to provide mortgage modifications under the federal guidelines, as well as specialty subprime servicer Ocwen Financial and a host of other well-known mortgage companies, including several credit unions and a servicer out of Puerto Rico.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and prosecutors in 19 states have filed 189 legal actions against companies and individuals they say are carrying out loan modification scams and deceptively marketing foreclosure rescue services.

Regulatory compliance professionals at community banks expect to spend a significant amount of their time meeting Truth-in-Lending Act (TILA) and Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) requirements during the next 12 months, according to a recent survey by Minneapolis-based Wolters Kluwer Financial Services.

Dallas-based MRG Document Technologies (MRG) now offers mortgage servicers loan modification document packages that are compliant with the administration’s Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP).

Long-term interest rates for home loans continue to drop, marking the third consecutive week they’ve declined. Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac’s VP and chief economist, explained that fixed mortgage rates are now down about half a percentage point from early June levels, when they began heading upward.