In a continuation of its philanthropic efforts, The Five Star Institute participated as a tournament sponsor for the Texas Neurofibromatosis (NF) Foundation's Texas NF Golf Classic, which took place Monday, November 3, at the picturesque Four Seasons Resort and Club in Irving. The Texas NF Golf Classic is an annual charity golf tournament to raise awareness and funding to fight neurofibromatosis (NF), a neurological disease that affects an average of one in every 3,000 people. It is more prevalent than Cystic Fibrosis and Muscular Dystrophy combined. NF occurs equally in both men and women, in all races and ethnic groups. NF particularly affects children and can cause disfigurement, deafness, blindness, brain tumors, cancer, and even death. There is currently no cure or long-term treatment available for this debilitating disease.

Ocwen Financial, the nation's top non-bank mortgage servicer, announced Thursday that the company has taken a $100 million charge for a potential settlement regarding claims that it sent backdated foreclosure notices to thousands of borrowers. In a conference call with analysts, Ocwen executive chairman William Erbey left open the possibility that legal costs could drive the $100 million amount higher.

Bank of America's record $16.65 billion settlement with several government agencies over the sale of toxic residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) has been stalled by an internal disagreement within the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), according to sources familiar with the case in a report from Bloomberg.

Nationwide valuation and review services company Allstate Appraisal, based in Chicago Heights, Illinois, and computer-aided appraising technology pioneer Bradford Technologies, based in San Jose, California, announced the launch of Valuation Express, a desktop appraisal product that incorporates third-party property inspections.

With the substantial improvement in the outlook for the labor market, as judged by the Committee, since the inception of the QE3 asset purchase program two years ago and the broader economy's underlying strength to support ongoing progress toward maximum employment in a price stability context, the Committee decided to conclude the QE3 program this month.

Pennsylvania-based loan risk management firm LoanLogics has announced the introduction of a new signature examination tool that will make it easier to audit signatures contained in loan documents.

The highest percentage of residential mortgage loans that were seriously underwater in the third quarter were originated during the housing bubble between 2004 and 2008, according to RealtyTrac's U.S. Home Equity & Underwater Report for Q3 2014. The number of Q3's seriously underwater mortgages that were originated in the years following 2006 has declined steadily, though it has ticked back up in the last two years.

CoreLogic's latest Mortgage Fraud Report, released Tuesday, shows a 3.2 percent year-over-year increase in fraud risk among mortgages in the United States in the second quarter of 2014, as measured by the company's Mortgage Application Fraud Risk Index. The report also showed that in Q2 2014, mortgage applications representing approximately $3.3 billion in mortgage debt contained elements of fraud or serious misrepresentation.

The CFPB Complaint Tracking Report, produced by Black Knight, will incorporate data contributed by both servicers and CFPB. Dori Daganhardt, VP of product marketing and market strategy at Black Knight, said she expects the report to help level the playing field in terms of transparency and education. She said the servicers and regulators will work together to determine the level of granularity contained in the report.

A recent study conducted by Trulia shows that while Democratic- and Republican-leaning U.S. markets were affected similarly by the housing crisis, the most pressing current issues of the housing industry seem to be more severely affecting Democratic-leaning metros.