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The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) sued Rocket Homes, accusing it of providing incentives to real estate brokers and agents in exchange for steering homebuyers to Rocket Mortgage for loans. The CFPB also sued a real estate brokerage firm and its owner for its alleged role in the arrangement.  

Experts shared with RESPA News what the bureau’s latest enforcement action might mean for the industry.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle Henry filed a complaint against a group of mortgage brokers and their manager alleging a kickback scheme that involved real estate agents, in violation of RESPA.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau accused a mortgage company of discriminatory mortgage lending activities in an enforcement action claiming the company discouraged homebuyers in the Chicago and Boston areas from applying for mortgages in majority-minority areas.

A pro se plaintiff filed a complaint against his mortgage servicer claiming it violated RESPA after he sent a notice of error to the servicer and it failed to timely respond. The servicer moved for summary judgment. The court focused on whether the servicer received a qualified written request from the plaintiff.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is charging a Providence Village, Texas, homeowners association with housing discrimination for enacting rules the agency said were designed to effectively remove Black residents who used housing choice vouchers from the community.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Federal Housing Administration announced updated requirements for several of its multifamily mortgage insurance programs aimed at increasing financial flexibility and affordable housing options.

The Mortgage Bankers Association Builder Application Survey data for December 2024 showed mortgage applications for new home purchases were up year-over-year and down slightly from November.

President-elect Donald Trump said he intends to nominate Bill Pulte to become the next director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. If confirmed by the Senate, Pulte would take over for Sandra Thompson and become the agency’s fourth director since it was established in July 2008.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) reached a historic settlement with PHH Mortgage Corp. (PHH) to resolve allegations that PHH unlawfully charged fees to borrowers when they made a mortgage payment. The settlement is the largest reimbursement amount to the most Federal Housing Administration borrowers in HUD’s history.

The plaintiffs sought rescission of their mortgage loan, claiming their mortgage originator and servicer failed to provide true, complete, accurate and timely loan documents in violation of the Truth in Lending Act, RESPA, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act and the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The servicer moved to dismiss the complaint.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Federal Housing Administration announced two actions that aim to increase homeownership affordability and enhance clarity and transparency for mortgage servicers in its Single-Family program.

The Federal Communications Commission is warning mortgage providers about a nationwide fraudulent calling campaign targeting homeowners seeking mortgage relief. The scammers have impersonated over 400 mortgage institutions and caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses to deceived homeowners.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced it awarded more than $450 million in funding in support of a variety of affordable housing initiatives throughout the country.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) reached a historic settlement with PHH Mortgage Corp. (PHH) to resolve allegations that PHH unlawfully charged fees to borrowers when they made a mortgage payment. The settlement is the largest reimbursement amount to the most Federal Housing Administration borrowers in HUD’s history.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said it expects its final rule prohibiting medical debt from being included on credit reports used by lenders to make credit determinations to lead to approximately 22,000 additional, affordable mortgage loan approvals annually.

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development issued nearly $12 billion in Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funds for communities across 24 states and territories to support recovery 2023 and 2024 natural disasters.

To provide guidance for the implementation of the funding, HUD also published the universal notice for CDBG-DR.

As part of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s annual inflation adjustment final rules, the bureau amended Regulation Z (Truth in Lending) to reflect changes in the asset-size thresholds to qualify for an exemption to the requirement to establish an escrow account for a higher-priced mortgage loan. 

The Federal Housing Administration posted an updated draft of its Partial Claim Document Recording and Payoff Statements Mortgagee Letter for review and feedback.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), the top Democrat on the Senate Committee On Banking, Housing, And Urban Affairs, sent a 13-page letter filled with questions to U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary-Designate Scott Turner in advance of his confirmation hearing.

The Department of Justice secured a settlement with a non-depository mortgage company over allegations the company engaged in lending discrimination by redlining predominantly Black and Hispanic neighborhoods in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, Fla., area.

A group of 53 state regulators reached a settlement with a mortgage company and three of its affiliates that includes a $20 million fine and corrective action for their deficient cybersecurity practices and for not cooperating with regulators after a data breach that impacted 5.8 million customers.

The October Research Keys to Real Estate podcast interrupted its season break to deliver a timely and exclusive discussion with Dr. Mark Calabria, a senior advisor at the Cato Institute who served as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency during the first Trump administration, to discuss the impact Trump’s second term could have on the housing market and the economy, as well as his views on possible updates to the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure rule.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development published a final rule in the Federal Register to strengthen and modernize regulations for the HOME Investment Partnership Program, the largest federal grant program specifically for creating housing for disadvantaged households.

The Federal Housing Administration revised its defect taxonomy, adding new content focused on Title II loan reviews, to provide greater clarity and transparency into its servicing loan review process.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s recent report about how homeowners deal with their mortgage company after divorce or the death of an original borrower found several areas of concern, including servicers pushing successor homeowners to take on new, higher-interest loans and family members being stuck in a customer service “doom loop.”

The Federal Housing Finance Agency and the U.S. Treasury Department took a significant step toward creating a path to end the conservatorships of government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mae with amendments to the Preferred Stock Purchase Agreements.

Fathom Holdings announced the expansion of its joint venture, Verus Title Elite, into a fourth Texas market.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund awarded more assistance resources in 2024 than in any other year in its history. Last year marked the 30th anniversary of the creation of the community development fund.

A mortgage subservicer received a Tier 1 rating from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for its Federal Housing Administration servicing performance under HUD’s Tier Ranking System II.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s report on non-performing loans sold by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac through the first half of 2024 showed a steady drop in delinquencies since the pandemic.

After the “Homebuyer Privacy Protection Act” was removed from the 2025 U.S. budget plan, many thought the measure limiting the use of trigger leads was not going to proceed. However, the Senate approved the bipartisan bill, and it now heads to the House.

Many industry groups applauded the action.

In the latest development in a case involving a plaintiff who brought a case on behalf of her minor child claiming a refinance loan taken out by her deceased husband was predatory and fraudulent, the Eastern District of Louisiana ruled on the remaining claims under RESPA and the Truth in Lending Act.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced a series of measures to address homelessness, including updating surplus property regulations, making resources available to a select number of states and awarding millions of dollars to support veterans.

The number of refinances increased by 10 percent from the second to third quarter of 2024, according to the latest Federal Housing Finance Agency Foreclosure Prevention and Refinance Report.

Pending home sales gained again in November, to the highest level since February 2023, according to the National Association of Realtors.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded $225 million in grant funding to 17 entities across 26 states through the Preservation and Reinvestment Initiative for Community Enhancement (PRICE) program. PRICE supports manufactured housing communities through repairs, infrastructure upgrades, homeowner assistance and creation of new homes.  

The Federal Housing Finance Agency finalized a rule that set annual benchmarks for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for their mortgage acquisitions for single-family and multifamily housing and updated the process for determining if an action plan must be filed for missing goals.

November’s existing home sales increased both month-over-month and year-over year, according to the National Association of Realtors. The annual increase was the largest year-over-year gain since June 2021.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau adjusted the annual exemption threshold for Home Mortgage Disclosure Act requirements under Regulation C.

To address rising insurance and property management costs, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development updated the operating cost adjustment factors for eligible multifamily housing projects under the Section 8 program.