Data Breaches from Email Phishing Scams Still Rocking Mortgage Industry: WEI Mortgage latest victim.

Just today the industry learned that WEI Mortgage has discovered a data breach from an email phishing scam last Fall that appears to have exposed loan file information and borrower personal identifying data such as Social Security numbers to outside parties. Back in October 2016 I wrote that Wells Fargo Bank and the Federal Bureau […]

Why Settlement Agents Pose the Greatest Risk to Mortgage Lenders and Borrowers

Settlement agents, the men and women who manage the closing of residential mortgage loans, carry a great burden with them. Each time they close a loan they have access to mortgage proceeds, lender documents including the important collateral security instruments (note and mortgage) and borrower personal and financial information (in the final 1003 and other […]

The Unique Conduct of Mortgage Closings in California Amid Concerns Over Fraud

According to figures published by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), Corelogic, Interthinx and LexisNexis, based upon filed SARS reports and other available data, California has been cited in the top ten fraud states nearly every year for the past decade. In 2009 and 2010 California was 3rd in […]

NJDOBI Issues Wire Fraud Warning and Recommended Policies to Prevent Losses

Today the NJ Department of Banking and Insurance issued its advisory Bulletin No 18-04 addressing all banks in the state on the topic of wire fraud. The notice explains the recent increase in fraud schemes involving the changing of wire instructions in an effort to steal mortgage loan proceeds. It recommends that lenders do the […]

NJ To Create its Own CFPB, Following Pennsylvania. Consumer-Driven Financial Regulation of Mortgage Lenders and Banks is Not Going Away.

Just when lenders were expecting the CFPB in Washington to fade silently into the mist of the night, there were rumblings that states were considering enacting their own CFPB organizations and regulations to prevent the Trump Administration from killing consumer protection oversight. Today those rumors have gained serious traction. According to the New Jersey Mortgage […]

Enterprise Risk Management: What’s in Your MROM?

Increasing regulatory pressures on banks and lenders to adopt greater risk management systems and processes are aimed at establishing a more uniform approach to quality control industry-wide. At the same time these pressures seek to protect consumers from the type of non-managed business decisions that were at the root of the financial industry collapse several […]