Mortgage Servicing News articles from December 2003

Mortgage Servicing News archives from December 2003

Big Lenders Win from Both Sides.
December 1, 2003... The third quarter marked another period of record results for the largest publicly traded mortgage lenders. But this time, it wasn't just loan origination that fueled strength in the mortgage sector. A rare confluence of events - namely...

Top Ten See Small Gain.(financial services)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... It's not easy being a servicing giant these days. Receivable "run off" is rampant and valuations are in the dumps. But with interest rates continuing to rise well above their early summer lows, good news could be on the horizon. ...

Top Residential Servicers at September 30, 2003.(Illustration)
December 1, 2003... (Dollars in Millions) (part 1 of 2) Rank Organization Name, Location 1 Washington Mutual, Seattle, WA 2 Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, San Francisco, CA 3 Countrywide Financial Corp., Calabasas, CA ...

GMAC Pioneers DSU.(Debt Servicing Utility)(General Motors Acceptance Corporation )
December 1, 2003... When GMAC Mortgage finishes implementing its Debt Servicing Utility project, it will be the industry's leading model, claims Tony Renzi, the executive vice president of servicing for GMAC. DSU is a single platform on which GMAC can service all...

Charbonneau Leaves CKI Brokerage.(named president and chief executive at McAfee Mortgage)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... After 20 years of selling servicing portfolios and mortgage franchises, Larry Charbonneau is hanging up his investment banking spurs - to run a mortgage company. "It was a great run and I learned a lot, but I decided to do something...

MSN/Special Report.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Commercial Servicing Technology Automation isn't just for the residential lending industry. Increasingly, commercial real estate finance firms are relying on technology to improve productivity and efficiency as well. Page 15 ...

New 'Predatory' Laws Take Aim at Servicing Practices.
December 1, 2003... Increasingly, "predatory lending" laws that are being passed by states include prohibitions on specific servicing practices as well as onerous penalties that apply not only to "high-cost" loans but to other home loans as well. In essence,...

PSA Agreements Address Advances.(Pooling and Servcing Agreements)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Pooling and servicing agreements for two recent commercial mortgage-backed securities deals rated by Fitch Ratings have incorporated explicit terms on servicer advance reimbursements. According to the agreements, any advance deemed...

FHA to Accept Electronic Claims.(Federal Housing Administration)
December 1, 2003... Loan files for single-family mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration will be a page or two lighter under a new directive eliminating paper mortgage insurance certificates. Effective Nov. 20, the FHA will no longer issue...

Survey: Banks See Home Equity Delinquencies Edge Up.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... The number of past due home equity loans and lines of credit edged up in the second quarter, despite improvement in the delinquency rate on credit card installment debt, according to the American Bankers Association. Home equity loan...

HE Late Payments Have Edged Up.(Illustration)
December 1, 2003... Period HEL HELOC 3rd Qtr 2.48% 0.63% 2nd Qtr 2.02% 0.61% Copyright 2003 Thomson Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. http://www.thomsonmedia.com http://www.mortgageservicingnews.com

OCC: Rate Risk Is a Rising Peril.(Office of the Comptroller-interest rate risk)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Interest rate risk has taken its place alongside perennial frontrunner credit risk atop the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's list of risk management worries, said the agency's director of treasury and market risk, Kathryn Dick. ...

The Turnaround.(mortgage industry)
December 1, 2003... If third quarter results are any indication, mortgage lenders that have big servicing portfolios are in for some good times. Despite the rate volatility that saw 30-year mortgage rates climbing by more than 100 basis points between late June...

New Generation of EPS Benefits Mortgage Industry.(Earnings Per Share )
December 1, 2003... Mr. Noser is vice president, Western Union Alternative Payments. He can be reached at brett.noserfirstdatacorp.com. The recent real estate boom has found borrowers taking advantage of more than just historically low rates on 30-year,...

Take The Mozilo Pledge: Don't Send Your Back Office Abroad.(Editorial)(Column)
December 1, 2003... A little more than a year ago, in a column, I suggested that mortgage-related firms that send their back offices overseas were committing "economic treason" against the U.S. In particular, I singled out the financial services arm of a...

Ginnie Mae Speeds Not Slowing as Quickly as Fannie's and Freddie's.(Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp.)(Federal National Mortgage Association)
December 1, 2003... Prepayment rates for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage-backed securities fell across the board in the October reporting period, but Ginnie Mae MBS speeds "threw the mortgage market a fast curve," according to the Bear Stearns Prepayment...

Loss Mitigation Sparks Concern.(mortgages)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Loss mitigation strategies aimed at avoiding or lessening the cost of foreclosure are a cornerstone of good servicing, but recent "predatory lending" complaints have raised concern that some practices may get lenders in trouble. As a...

Executive Sees Growing Demand for Interim Loan Servicing Expertise.(acquisitions manager)
December 1, 2003... Kevin Quinn sees interim servicing as a great opportunity for his employer, Master Financial Inc. Mr. Quinn, the subservicing acquisitions manager for the Orange, Calif.-based company, says interim servicing - the temporary subservicing of...

Fitch Affirms iStar's Ratings.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Fitch Ratings has affirmed to primary and master commercial mortgage servicer ratings of iStar Asset Services. The company's primary servicer rating was affirmed at "CPS2" while the master servicer rating was affirmed at "CMS2-minus." ...

Waters Named To MBAC Board.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Samuel Waters, a shareholder and chairman of the board at the law firm of Rogers Townsend & Thomas here, has been elected to serve a two-year term as an associate board member for the Mortgage Bankers Association of the Carolinas. Mr....

Fitch: Litigation Creates Concern at ORIX.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Fitch Ratings has placed the commercial mortgage special servicer rating of ORIX Capital Markets on Rating Watch Negative status, saying the company's aggressive use of litigation may not suit the interests of investors in commercial...

Hidden Elements of Rate Risk Vex Hedge Strategists.
December 1, 2003... If it's not one thing, it's another. That's the problem with hedging. Just ask Andrew Hickman of ERisk, baed in New York. Mr. Hickman spoke at a U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray investor conference in New York, where he advised that lenders face...

Fitch Affirms Ameriquest.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Fitch ratings has affirmed Ameriquest Mortgage Co.'s "RPS2" residential primary servicer rating for subprime loans. Fitch also affirmed the company's "RSS2-minus" rating as a special servicer. The rating agency said the affirmation...

Fitch Takes Negative Outlook on Fairbanks Servicer Ratings.
December 1, 2003... Fitch has revised its rating watch status on Fairbanks Capital Corp.'s loan servicing operation from "evolving" to "negative" after taking issue with a change in the way Fairbanks determines property values. Fairbanks, which services the...

Agency Upgrades IndyMac's Ratings.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Fitch Ratings has upgraded the servicing ratings on IndyMac Bank. The new ratings for IndyMac are "RPS2" for prime, subprime and alt-A loans. Previously, Fitch had rated the servicer "2-minus" in those categories. Additionally, Fitch...

NACM Survey Shows Higher Optimism about Collections.(National Association of Credit Management)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... A monthly survey conducted by the National Association of Credit Management shows that credit and collection executives rate the current environment more favorably than at any point since May of 2002. The NACM Credit Manager's Index reached...

TransUnion System Prioritizes Collections.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... TransUnion has created technology that is designed to help creditors prioritize and optimize collection activities. TransUnion Collection Prioritization Service offers a package of recovery solutions that leverages highly predictive data...

Kevin Kanouff.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... The Murrayhill Co., Denver, has appointed Mr. Kanouff as its president. In this role, he assumes leadership of Murrayhill's day-to-day operations. Mr. Kanouff joined Murrayhill's executive leadership team as general counsel in early 2003...

Roundup: Loan Protector Creates Interface with Fidelity's MSP.(Mortgage Servicing Package)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Loan Protector Insurance Services here, an outsourcer of customized mortgage insurance tracking and verification programs, has developed a custom interface with the Fidelity Mortgage Servicing Package. The interface gives Fidelity clients,...

FNIS Creates Don't Call Service.(Fidelity National Information Solutions Real Estate Services)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... FNIS Real Estate Services, a division of Fidelity National Financial, announced a new, Web-based do-not-call telephone number search capability designed to help real estate professionals and mortgage lenders access telephone database...

LOGS Chooses AP3 Solution.(LOGS Legal Network and LOGS Financial Services Inc)(AP3 Solutions LLC)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... AP3 Solutions LLC, Nashville, Tenn., is in the final phase of its MasterView Default Manager system rollout to the LOGS Legal Network and LOGS Financial Services Inc. here. MasterView is a performance- and process-improvement...

Law Firm Enhances Website.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Weltman, Weinberg & Reis Co., ranked as the largest creditors' rights law firm in the country by Collections & Credit Risk magazine, has formally launched its redesigned website at www.weltman.com. The company said the site now offers new...

Citi Courts WaMu? Not Likely, But...(Citygroup and Washington Mutual-cases)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Is the nation's largest commercial bank courting the nation's largest servicer of home mortgages? As Mortgage Servicing News went to press this month, a rumor was making the rounds (thanks to Reuters news service) that Citigroup might have...

Rumor Du Jour - If Citi Buys Wamu... Statistics at a Glance.(Illustration)
December 1, 2003... (Dollars in billions) Company HQ Serv at 9/30 Mkt Share Washington Mutual Seattle $722 10.57% CitiMortgage St. Louis $191 2.80% CitiFinancial (BC) Baltimore...

Commercial Servicing Technology.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Commercial mortgage loans are a lot different from residential mortgages. In fact, they are usually different from each other as well. While the residential market is characterized by a high degree of conformity and standardization in mortgage...

Ginnie Mae Plays Leadership Role in MERS Initiative.
December 1, 2003... Ginnie Mae has announced the eligibility of multifamily mortgages that are registered with MERS Commercial effective immediately, becoming the first secondary market agency to take this step in promoting the use of the electronic registry for...

Trema Seeks Clients among Real Estate Lenders.
December 1, 2003... Trema, a technology company known for providing automation to international clients as big as the European Central Bank and Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., is now offering its services to users in the U.S. mortgage market. And Trema's...

Top Commercial Servicers at June 30, 2003.(Illustration)
December 1, 2003... (Dollars in Millions) (part 1 of 2) Rank Organization Name Location 1 GMAC Commercial Holding Corp. Horsham, PA 2 GEMSA Loan Services, L.P. Houston, TX 3 ...

Strengthening Economy Bodes Well for Real Estate.
December 1, 2003... With the latest indications showing that the economy has clearly recovered from the mild recession that began back in 2001 - although there is the possibility, however slight, that the momentum could be delayed if there is any other shock to...

Prudential Selects McCracken Software.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... McCracken Financial Software has announced that Prudential Mortgage Capital Co. has selected the firm's "Strategy" servicing software to manage its commercial loan portfolio. McCracken said that Prudential, like a majority of other firms...

Regulators Warn about Counselors.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... The Federal Trade Commission, Internal Revenue Service and state regulators have issued a consumer alert for those seeking guidance from tax-exempt credit counseling agencies. Many consumers are seeking help from nonprofit credit counseling...

HUD Watching Appraisal Firms.(Department of Housing and Urban Development)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... The Department of Housing and Urban Development has announced that its new "Appraiser Watch" monitoring system is fully operational. Under Appraiser Watch, the Federal Housing Administration will be able to spot bad appraisers who are...

Agencies, Lenders Offer Relief to CA Fire Victims.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... The Mortgage Bankers Association, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae all called for mortgage lenders and servicers to provide relief to borrowers affected by the wildfires in Southern California in late October. All three organizations urged...

Correction.(Correction Notice)
December 1, 2003... In a story that ran in the November edition of MSN and the Oct. 20 edition of National Mortgage News, it was incorrectly reported that Care One Counseling Services manages 28,000 debt management plans. The correct figure is actually 300,000...

Servicing People.
December 1, 2003... CALIFORNIA Orange-Master Financial Inc. has appointed Alice Sorenson as senior vice president. She will oversee loan administration, being responsible for loan servicing, collections, customer service, loss mitigation, asset...