Mortgage Servicing News articles from August 2002

Mortgage Servicing News archives from August 2002

With GSB, Citi Will Jump to #6.(Golden State Bancorp; CitiMortgage)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
August 1, 2002... New York-Several years back, the word on the street was that Citigroup didn't really care much for mortgage banking. But with the firm's recently announced plan to buy Golden State Bancorp, San Francisco, the question now becomes: just how...

With CalFed/FNM Citi Jumps to #6 in Servicing.(First Nationwide Mortgage, CitiMortgage Inc.)(Brief Article)(Illustration)(Statistical Data Included)
August 1, 2002... Size of Company Residentia Market Rank at Name Servicing Share 3/31/02 First Nationwide Mort $114,155 1.98% 9 CitiMortgage Inc. $104,851 1.82% 10 ...

'Doctored Defaults' Worry Commercial Realty Lenders.(speech by Larry Duggins to Mortgage)(Bankers Association conference)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... Some sophisticated borrowers are trying to see if they can get concessions from lenders in the current economic slowdown by doctoring defaults, according to a participant at the Mortgage Bankers Association's recent commercial and multifamily...

Refinancing Back on Top.(mortgage refinancing)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
August 1, 2002... With 30-year mortgage rates once again stuck below 7%, lenders saw another wave of refinancing activity pick up in June and July. In mid-July, refinancing accounted for just over 50% of new loan applications, according to the Mortgage...

Europe Searches for Unity.(interview with Toni Moss, EuroCatalyst)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... Toni Moss said that when she was director of international business development for Stater BV in the Netherlands, the challenges she faced in helping the company introduce third-party servicing to Europe included not only explaining a concept...

Subprime Delinquency Rates at 3/31/02.(mortgage delinquency)(Brief Article)(Illustration)(Statistical Data Included)
August 1, 2002... (Based on the number of loans serviced) (part 1 of 2) Rnk Organization Name, Location 1 WMC Mortgage Company, Woodland Hills, CA 2 Fairbanks Capital Corp., Salt Lake City, UT 3 Homecomings/GMAC-RFC, Bloomington,...

Countrywide Praised For Low-Cost MSRs.(mortgage servicing portfolio )(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
August 1, 2002... Continued strength in loan origination and a rapidly growing servicing portfolio make Countrywide Credit Industries an attractive stock to own, according to analyst Mike McMahon at Sandler O'Neill. And a key to Countrywide's growth is its...

VA Wants More Loss Mitigation.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... The Department of Veteran Affairs is resigning its loan administration procedures and it will be asking its servicers to take on more loss mitigation responsibilities. "The changes will be sweeping," according to Keith Pedigo, director of...

GMAC Appoints Risk Executive.(GMAC Commercial Mortgage appoints Donald R. Glitz vice president/risk manager)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... GMAC Commercial Mortgage has appointed Donald R. Glitz vice president/risk manager in its loan administration unit. In this role, Mr. Glitz will be responsible for implementing insurance training programs, ensuring compliance with investor...

Franchise Defaults Rise.(loans)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
August 1, 2002... Franchise loan defaults increased during the first quarter of 2002, continuing a trend of "skyrocketing defaults that began in 2001," according to Fitch Ratings. The Fitch Ratings Franchise Loan Performance Index found 78 new borrower...

MERS Wins Court Victory.(Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems Inc.)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... A New York state court has ruled against a county clerk who has refused to register loans with Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems Inc., as the mortgagee of record. MERS, the industry-owned utility that maintains an electronic...

A Silver Lining.(mortgage industry profit margins)(Brief Article)(Industry Overview)
August 1, 2002... Last year, the mortgage industry achieved the highest profit margins from loan production ever, helped by strong refinancing volume and the efficiencies created by automated underwriting. But that may be little consolation for loan...

Products or Services?(mortgage companies offer integrated bundled services)(Brief Article)(Column)
August 1, 2002... Mr. Gugenheim is executive vice president & chief operating officer of Stewart Mortgage Information. He is responsible for the leadership of the business operations of the company. Mr. Gugenheim's experience includes 14 years in the...

Mortgage Scene: Exploding the Myth of Broker Domination of Originations.(Brief Article)(Column)(Statistical Data Included)
August 1, 2002... The next time I hear some mortgage "expert" say that loan brokers control 60% to 70% of the residential market, I'm going to haul my ink barrel over to the National Association of Mortgage Brokers and start shooting. Let's see if I can set...

Meritech Is Now Saxon Mortgage.(Meritech Mortgage Services becomes Saxon Mortgage Services)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... Saxon Capital, parent of Meritech Mortgage Services, is changing the name of its mortgage servicing unit to Saxon Mortgage Services. Dennis Stowe, chief operating officer and president of Saxon Capital, said that the name change reflects...

Irwin Provides Additional Disclosure on Residuals.(Irwin Financial Corp. )(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
August 1, 2002... Anticipating new regulations governing the securitization of residual interests in home equity loans, Irwin Financial Corp. here has provided investors with additional information regarding its residuals. Irwin said it is preparing for...

Fitch Acquires Risk Consultant.(Fitch Risk Management buys NetRisk, OpVantage)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... Pursuing a goal to become a leading provider of risk management services, Fitch Risk Management, an affiliate of Fitch Ratings, has agreed to acquire the business and assets of NetRisk and its subsidiary OpVantage. Both are privately held...

S&P Changes Servicer Test With New Module.(Standard & Poor's)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... Rating agency Standard & Poor's said it is enhancing its servicer evaluation program with the introduction of SEAM, or Servicer Evaluation Assessment Module. SEAM is an internal database that has been developed to perform a quantitative...

Speed Watch: Experts Surprised by Absence of Big Prepayment Rush.(mortgage-back securities)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... Prepayment rates for agency mortgage-backed securities were mixed in June, defying some analysts' expectations by accelerating only slightly among conventional coupons up to 7.0% and actually slowing among those of 7.5% and higher. The...

Fitch and Moody's Trade Jabs With Competing Studies.(Statistical Data Included)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... A series of "rating transition" studies seems to have set off something of a squabble between Moody's Investors Service and Fitch Ratings. Fitch, in two recent reports, has taken pains to document that its ratings are extremely similar to...

Wilshire Increases Stake in Servicing Subsidiary.(Wilshire Financial Services Group Inc. buys 49.99% of Wilshire Credit Corp.)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... Wilshire Financial Services Group Inc. has entered into an agreement to purchase a 49.99% equity interest in Wilshire Credit Corp., a servicer handling an approximately $4 billion portfolio of subprime and damaged residential and commercial...

Subprime Forecast: Defaults Will Edge Up On Today's Loans.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
August 1, 2002... The weak economy is causing the risk of default on newly originated, nonprime credit quality mortgages to rise again, according to University Financial Associates here. UFA, which tracks the credit risk on new subprime mortgages on a...

Hedging: Roots in the Mortgage Industry Help BlackRock Advise Servicers.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... BlackRock Solutions knows that sophisticated technology underpins the analytics that mortgage servicing managers need to effectively protect their investment. But the firm also knows that first-hand knowledge of the mortgage world is as...

Commercial Servicer: Force-Placed Insurance Sparks Terrorism Dispute.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... While the final version of legislation to provide a government backstop for terrorism insurance awaits enactment, some servicers have gone ahead and force-placed the insurance on properties which they deem to not have adequate coverage for...

Lenders Urged to Pay Attention to Security Costs After Sept. 11.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... The need to have a disaster recovery plan in place has been highlighted by the events of Sept. 11, a day which saw entire offices, and the records they contained, destroyed after the World Trade Center towers collapsed following terrorist...

eBay Says It Can Speed the REO Sales Process.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... Since acquiring Homes Direct last year, Internet auction house eBay has become a big player in online home sales. And the company has made a special effort to help lenders sell real estate acquired through foreclosure. Christopher...

S&P: Banks Short on Risk Management Data.(Standard & Poor's Corp.)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... While banks have made progress in enterprisewide risk management, they remain hampered by a lack of data, according to a study by Standard & Poor's. Roy Taub, executive managing director of S&P's risk solutions group, said better...

Experian Offers Charge-Off Help.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... Experian has introduced its Portfolio Management Package for post charge-off loan accounts, saying the service will incorporate a new credit scoring model to help lenders and collection agencies prioritize collection efforts on charged-off...

Credit Counselor: Lenders Play Big Role in Providing Borrower Counseling.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... While consumer credit counseling agencies have long offered homeownership counseling as part of their consumer education, historically there has been little data on how much financial institutions actually contribute to these programs, both...

GMAC and New Century Choose Fiserve Systems For Loan Servicing.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... Fiserv Inc. here reports that both large and not-so-large servicers are signing up to use its MortgageServ residential mortgage servicing system. As evidence, the company says that both GMAC Mortgage and New Century Mortgage Corp. have both...

Bundled Services Special Report.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... For advocates of one-stop shopping for loan settlement services, the words of Department of Housing and Urban Development secretary Mel Martinez were like music. He wants reform of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act to facilitate the...

Fidelity National Offers to Manage Property Valuation Options.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
August 1, 2002... Fidelity National Information Solutions here has launched a new tool that will help lenders manage the appraisers they choose to work with. ValuePort, in development for over two years, is designed to help lenders be more efficient in their...

Metrociti Partners with FNAMS.(Metrociti Mortgage, Fidelity National Asset Management Solutions)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... Metrociti Mortgage has formed a strategic alliance with Fidelity National Asset Management Solutions, a firm that specializes in handling the disposition of real estate owned. The alliance formed between the firms is known as MetroNational...

NCS Opens Post-Close Department.(National Closing Solutions)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... National Closing Solutions, a subsidiary of Mother Lode Holding Co., has launched a post-closing division in Houston. For the past two years, the company has operated two vendor management operations from offices in Texas and its headquarters...

First American Launches On-Demand Service.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... First American National Default Outsourcing has debuted "Outsource-on-Demand," a single-source, external bankruptcy and foreclosure service for mortgage servicers. Outsource-on-Demand provides a temporary solution for the occasional...

Conseco Seeks To Capture More Closing Income.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
August 1, 2002... Conseco Finance, a diversified finance company, has formed a new subsidiary to provide title, appraisal and settlement services for its home equity, home improvement and manufactured housing lending businesses. The new company, called...

Reform of RESPA Should Facilitate Bundled Services.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... Housing secretary Mel Martinez's proposal to revamp the mortgage application and settlement process does not stop at simply providing guaranteed closing costs or clearer disclosures of origination fees. "The process of financing and...

Reform Will Boost 'OneFee'.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
August 1, 2002... The management of ABN Amro Mortgage Group Inc. here has seen the future of the mortgage business and believes that it will feature one all-in cost disclosed to the consumer. Giving the customer one single price for a mortgage has been part...

FNC Adds Titleserv To Collateral Pipeline.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... FNC Inc., a collateral information infrastructure firm, announced that its clients will now have electronic access to Titleserv's appraisal, title and closing products and services through FNC's collateral management pipeline. The FNC...

LandSafe Renames Inspection Unit.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... LandSafe, a provider of real estate information and closing services, announced that LandSafe Home Inspections has been renamed LandSafe Inspection Services. LandSafe said the change more accurately reflects the growing scope of the...

Servicing People.
August 1, 2002... CALIFORNIA Agoura Hills- Tom Stannard has been appointed as vice president of sales and marketing at Lenders Financial Services, a provider of default-related outsource management services to the banking and mortgage industries. Mr....