On March 28, 2017, Wells Fargo & Co announced (Bloomberg, March 28, 2017) that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) downgraded the firm in its assessment of the firm’s performance under the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). Under CRA, depository institutions are evaluated to determine their responsiveness in meeting the needs of low- [...]
Aaron Wider, the former owner and CEO of the mortgage bank HTFC Corp. in Garden City, N.Y., was sentenced by a U.S. District judge to 150 months’ imprisonment for conspiracy to commit bank fraud for defrauding financial institutions out of over $30 million in mortgage proceeds. Wider, who was convicted on Jan. 25, 2016, was [...]
On March 23, 2017, the Federal Reserve Board (FRB) announced an enforcement action with Santander Holdings USA, Inc. and its majority-owned subsidiary, Santander Consumer USA, Inc. This action will require Santander to strengthen its compliance risk management program and improve the oversight by the Board and senior management of the lender’s subprime auto-lending unit. While [...]
As eluded to last week in a disclosure via a financial report filing, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) formally announced a penalty against Nationstar Mortgage for violations under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA). The CFPB’s order requires that Nationstar: pay a record $1.75 million penalty for the alleged HMDA violations; fix HMDA reporting [...]
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced Friday, March 9th, that it has reached an agreement with Alpine Bank & Trust resolving allegations that the Northern Illinois-based lender discriminated against African American and Hispanic mortgage applicants. The agreement stems from a complaint filed with HUD by HOPE Fair Housing Center of Wheaton, Illinois, [...]
Nationstar Mortgage disclosed (HousingWire, March 9, 2017) that it is facing a potential fine related to violations under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA). The disclosure, made in its 2016 10-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, acknowledges that it is currently in negotiations with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) regarding the payment amount for [...]
On March 1, 2017, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a forfeiture action on First National Bank of Williamson in the amount of $1.36 million related to violations under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA). The action concerned structuring transactions that occurred between April 2006 and November 2008. The subject customer admitted in court that the [...]