Government

Walnut Creek, California-based National Loan Auditors (NLA) now offers an online resource portal for clients to gain up-to-date information on statues and case law pertaining to lending and foreclosure.

The Federal Reserve yesterday slashed its benchmark federal funds rate – the overnight rate at which banks lend to each other – from 1 percent to a target range of 0 percent to 0.25 percent, the lowest rate on record.

The faltering American Insurance Group Inc. (AIG) said earlier this week that it has sold its portfolio of residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) to a new financing entity backed by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which was created in early October as part of the federal government’s bailout of the giant insurer.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) yesterday announced an expedited process that will help prevent a federal tax lien block on the refinancing of mortgages or the sale of a home by financially distressed homeowners.

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-California), chairwoman of the subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity and a member of the Financial Services Committee, introduced the Systematic Foreclosure Prevention and Mortgage Modification Act of 2008 (H.

Last week, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved its final rules for credit rating agency reform. The commission is calling for changes to the practices of credit ratings agencies because it says agencies’ ratings of securities that were backed by subprime mortgage loans contributed to the recent turmoil in the credit markets.

The law firm of Susman Godfrey, a litigation powerhouse of 82 trial attorneys with offices in Houston, Dallas, Los Angeles, Seattle, and New York, argues that a by-product of the national credit crunch is that banks are cutting the collateral cord and often pulling the rug out from under collaborative partners.

A federal court in Chicago recently approved a settlement agreement between the National Association of Realtors and the U.S. Department of Justice, ending antitrust charges against the association and its members filed by the federal government more than three years ago.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released its final rule under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) yesterday to improve disclosures in the home financing process. RESPA, a law originally enacted in 1974, now includes new Good Faith Estimate (GFE) and HUD-1 Settlement Statement forms, which require lenders and mortgage brokers to clearly disclose key loan terms and closing costs.

In its latest attempt to thaw the country’s credit freeze, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Federal Reserve, and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) issued a joint statement yesterday urging banks to start lending again.