Mortgage Servicing News articles from April 2009

Mortgage Servicing News archives from April 2009

AHMSI Is Fighting Lawsuit.
April 1, 2009... New York-In another sign of growing tension between investors in mortgage securities and servicers of subprime loans, Carrington Capital Management has prepared a lawsuit against American Home Mortgage Servicing Inc., alleging that the firm...

Paying Off Credit Cards, Saving for a Home Top Priorities.(Credit Counselor)
April 1, 2009... Byline: Amilda Dymi I do not think there is anybody out there who hasn't seen the 800-pound gorilla in the room commercial. It may have a different effect on borrowers compared to investors, but now it somehow makes more sense to both. ...

Servicers See More 'Right to Rescind' Notices Filed.(Conference notes)
April 1, 2009... Byline: Jennifer Harmon Tampa, FL-Servicers are seeing increased cases where borrowers are trying to stall or stop foreclosures by filing "right to rescind" notices as violations of the Truth in Lending Act, according to speakers at the...

FM Watch: Where They Are Now.(Mortgage Scene)
April 1, 2009... Byline: Paul Muolo So, how's the old "anti" Fannie/Freddie gang holding up these days? Funny, you should ask. Formed in 1999 or thereabouts, FM Watch was a lobbying group whose sole mission in life - at least early on - was to block and...

BlackRock Adds to its Equity Stake in Top 10 Servicer.
April 1, 2009... Byline: Paul Muolo New York-Subsidiaries controlled by investment banker BlackRock Financial have increased their stake in PHH Corp., Mount Laurel, N.J. - a top 10 ranked residential servicer - to 9.67%, according to a new filing with the...

SERVICING PEOPLE.
April 1, 2009... CALIFORNIA Irvine-Finacorp Securities has hired Itai Benosh, formerly a director at Freddie Mac and a debt capital markets banker at Lehman Brothers. As senior vice president, business development and GSE debt, Mr. Benosh's chief...

Staging Moves Homes.(Managing REO: Collaboration Is Key To Driving Sales)
April 1, 2009... Byline: Jennifer Harmon New York-As the number of nonperforming assets being acquired by asset management companies continues to grow, staging services are being sought after to boost property sales. Asset managers are telling the...

Municipalities Get Aggressive with Handling REO.(Managing REO)
April 1, 2009... Byline: Jennifer Harmon Tampa, FL-Local municipalities across the country are increasing penalties and fining lenders as much as $100 a day for code violations such as for each broken window on an REO home, according to speakers at a panel...

Report Shows 20% of Mortgages Are Now Underwater.(Managing REO)
April 1, 2009... Byline: Brad Finkelstein Santa Ana, CA-In its latest negative equity report, First American CoreLogic here found that 8.3 million borrowers or 20% of all mortgaged properties are now in a negative equity position, up from 7.6 million or...

Real Estate Owned is Trading Higher Than Notes.(Managing REO)
April 1, 2009... Byline: Bonnie Sinnock When it comes to dealing with the mortgage debt left over from the excesses of 2005-2007, a lot hangs on how government plans take shape. In the meantime, experts say the market for this often-securitized product has...

Auctions Help Local Communities.(Managing REO)
April 1, 2009... Byline: Amilda Dymi Atlanta-An auction program has been designed to assist buyers in search of an affordable property as well as banks looking to reduce the number of nonperforming loans on their books. Real estate-owned auctioneer...

Speakers Say Hasten Foreclosures, Don't Delay Them.(Managing REO)
April 1, 2009... Byline: Lew Sichelman Park City, UT-Though well intentioned, the government's plan to end the housing crisis is missing the mark, a pair of economists said here at the recent annual Midwinter Housing Finance Conference. John Burns, a...

Courts To Address Insurance Policies.(Managing REO)
April 1, 2009... Byline: Jennifer Harmon LITTLE ROCK, AR-The Tennessee Supreme Court issued an opinion in the case of U.S. Bank NA, as servicer for the Tennessee Housing Development Agency v. Tennessee Farmers Mutual Insurance Co., which addressed industry...

Freddie Mac Launches New Rental Initiative To Lease Homes.(Managing REO)
April 1, 2009... McLean, VA-Freddie Mac has launched its new REO rental initiative giving qualified tenants and former owners the option to lease their recently foreclosed properties on a month-to-month basis. The initiative will be managed by HomeSteps,...

FHFA Wants TARP Money Used to Help MI Industry.(Managing REO)
April 1, 2009... Byline: Brian Collins Washington-The nation's GSE regulator wants the Obama administration to use a portion of TARP funds to shore up the capital bases of the six surviving private mortgage insurance companies. "I am very hopeful we...

Act with Caution.(Special Report)
April 1, 2009... Mortgage servicing these days resembles a huge construction site of ideas, many of which have a lot to do with purchasing nonperforming loans. How do we stop the complex domino effect of mortgage defaults and foreclosures on the economy at...

Guide to Performing, Nonperforming Loans.(Special Report)
April 1, 2009... Dublin-The overall mortgage crisis and its global impact on the international markets have fueled efforts to provide tools that help better understand related micro- and macro-economic developments. Research and Markets here recently added...

Higher Delinquencies Affect Securities' Investors.(Special Report)
April 1, 2009... Byline: Amilda Dymi New York-In the past few years investor caution has been the order of the day in the residential mortgage marketplace and higher default rates are adding caution to commercial mortgage security investors. To best...

Do-It-Yourself Loan Mod Tool.(Special Report)
April 1, 2009... Byline: Amilda Dymi Los Angeles-A new DVD offers homeowners in distress a loan-modification tool that opens the door to a more affordable, do-it-yourself approach to modifications. It is known that homeowners in distress intimidated by...

Hot-Button Topics at SourceMedia Servicing Conference.(Conference news)
April 1, 2009... Byline: Jennifer Harmon Attendees at SourceMedia's Third Annual Mortgage Servicing Conference April 6-7 in Dallas will hear all about the latest servicing updates, including the recent approval of cramdowns by the House of Representatives...

Wait and See.(Editorial)
April 1, 2009... Attendees at the Mortgage Bankers Association's National Servicing Conference in Tampa generally were taking a wait-and-see attitude on President Obama's plan to help stem the avalanche of foreclosures overwhelming servicers currently. ...

Servicing Writedowns, Impairment Create PNC Red Ink.
April 1, 2009... Pittsburgh-Writedowns to commercial mortgage servicing rights and investment securities contributed to PNC Financial Services Group's fourth-quarter loss. On the bright side, PNC said it is seeing increased demand for first mortgages due...

Obama Outlines His Foreclosure Plan.
April 1, 2009... Byline: Barack Obama, President of the United States The President unveiled his homeowner rescue plan in Arizona, one of the states hardest hit by the home value downturn, with Phoenix down 43% since 2006. I'm here today to talk about...

$750B in Mortgage Debt Past Due.
April 1, 2009... Byline: Paul Muolo and Amilda Dymi Washington-The national mortgage delinquency rate - which includes both prime and subprime mortgages - climbed to a record 7.88% in the fourth quarter with subprime late payments reaching a staggering...

'Special' Demand Up.
April 1, 2009... Byline: Amilda Dymi Tampa, FL-Special servicers are scrambling to develop new staff capable of fulfilling the current high demand for loss mitigation expertise. Special servicing products and technology solutions also are helping...

Servicers Are Questioning Obama's Rescue Plan.
April 1, 2009... Byline: Mark Fogarty Tampa, FL-Servicing industry specialists have some pointed questions about the administration's mortgage rescue plans, as evidenced during a roundtable at the Mortgage Bankers Association's National Servicing...

Report Shows Difficulty for High SATO Volume.
April 1, 2009... Byline: Jennifer Harmon New York-While high spread-at-origination borrowers cured quickly during 2005-07, they can no longer do so in the current environment due to dramatically tightened underwriting, sharply widened mortgage credit...

Commercial Servicers at Year-End '08; (Dollars in Millions).
April 1, 2009... Organization Name 4Q 08 4Q 07 % Change Boston Mutual Life Insurance Co. $144 $138 4% Capstone Realty Advisors LLC $8,772 $9,419 -7% First Republic Bank $2,722 $1,833 49% Gershman Investment Corp. $718 $671 7% Grandbridge...

Top Residential Servicers at 12/31/08.
April 1, 2009... Servicing Volume % Market Rank Organization Name 12/31/08 12/31/07 Change Share 1 Bank of America (1) $2,056,463 $516,937 298% 21.13% 2 Wells Fargo & Co. (2) $1,780,884 $1,473,178 21% 18.30% 3 Chase (3) $1,503,230 $775,940 94%...

Servicers Ranked by Number of Loans Serviced at 12/31/08.(Company rankings)
April 1, 2009... Number of Loans Serviced % Market Mkt Shr Rank Organization Name Location 12/31/08 12/31/07 change Share % pt. +/- 1 Bank of America Charlotte, NC 14,151,813 5,247,781 170% 19.19% +9.42% 2 Wells Fargo & Co. San Francisco, CA...