Mortgage Servicing News articles from December 2006

Mortgage Servicing News archives from December 2006

$363B of MSRs May Change Hands.(Mortgage servicing rights)(ABN AMRO Mortgage Group Inc.)(Option One Mortgage Corp.)
December 1, 2006... WASHINGTON -- Merger activity is once again picking up steam as mortgage bankers weigh their options in an increasingly difficult operating environment. According to calculations made by Mortgage Servicing News, some $363 billion in...

For Sale or About to be Sold - Servicing Rights in Transit.(Statistical table)
December 1, 2006... (Dollars in Millions) Company Servicing Port. Industry Name at June 30, 2006 Niche ABN Amro Mortgage $219,562 prime Option One ...

Mixed Bag for Lenders.(Wells Fargo & Co.)(Washington Mutual Bank)(Countrywide Financial Corp.)(Statistical data)
December 1, 2006... NEW YORK -- The third quarter produced a double whammy for some mortgage lenders. Falling rates pushed down mortgage servicing values. But with rates remaining higher than they have been for most of the time in recent years, there wasn't much...

FTC Eyes Servicers.(Federal Trade Commission )
December 1, 2006... WASHINGTON -- Federal Trade Commission is continuing to focus its investigations on mortgage servicing practices but it also has it eyes open for other abusive and predatory practices at targeted companies. The consumer protection agency...

Jumbo Overdue Rate Jumps.(Brief article)
December 1, 2006... NEW YORK -- Serious delinquencies on securitized jumbo mortgage loans increased sharply in July and August, according to Moody's Investors Service. At the end of August, Moody's said the percentage of jumbo mortgages more than 60 days past...

Residential Servicers at September 30, 2006 (Sample).(Statistical table)
December 1, 2006... (Dollars in Millions) Servicing Volume % Rank Organization Location 9/30/06 9/30/05 Change 1 America First CU Riverdale, UT...

Clayton Expects Growth in Servicing Side of Business.(Clayton Holdings)
December 1, 2006... SHELTON, CT -- Clayton Holdings, a provider of analytics, consulting and outsourced services for the capital markets, lenders and loan servicers, earned net income of $3.1 million on revenue of $61 million during the third quarter as the...

MERS Registers 1,000th E-Note.(Brief article)
December 1, 2006... VIENNA, VA -- Fannie Mae purchased the 1,000th electronic note on the MERS eRegistry in early October. Fannie Mae bought the e-note from Ohio Savings Bank, Cleveland. "We are pleased with the way the industry has embraced the MERS...

New Century Agrees to Acquire Irwin's Platform.(New Century Financial Corp.)(Irwin Financial Corp.)
December 1, 2006... COLUMBUS, IN -- Irwin Financial Corp., a bank holding company with a focus on small business and consumer mortgage lending, saw its third-quarter earnings drop from the year-earlier period as it exited the conforming mortgage business. ...

1st Source Gains On Servicng Sale.(1st Source Corp.)(Brief article)
December 1, 2006... SOUTH BEND, IN -- 1st Source Corp. saw its net income rise 16% from a year earlier to $10.9 million in the third quarter of this year, with a gain related to the bulk sale of mortgage servicing rights contributing to the increase. The company...

Editorial: Litigation Alert.(risk undertaking by mortgage banks and likely litigation that follows)(Editorial)
December 1, 2006... In the aftermath of "predatory servicing," MI cancellation and other waves of litigation that targeted deep-pocketed loan servicers, it's small wonder that some class-action attorneys are studying the books on pay-option ARMs and other exotic...

Point of View: WaMu Rebalances Home Loan Portfolio.(Washington Mutual - Kerry Killinger)
December 1, 2006... This viewpoint is an excerpt from Washington Mutual chairman and CEO Kerry Killinger's remarks to investors following the company's release of third quarter earnings. Our earnings included net after-tax charges of $31 million, or $0.03 per...

The Correction: How Bad Does It Hurt?(Business conditions)
December 1, 2006... As I write this, news is breaking that Countywide Financial Corp. is converting to a thrift. Dutch bank ABN Amro Holding NV is contemplating selling its U.S. mortgage operation (which boasts $200 billion in servicing rights) and the Democrats...

Bond Rally Adds Fuel to a Mini Refi-Boom.
December 1, 2006... The speeds of 30-year fixed-rate mortgages in agency mortgage-backed securities jumped 14% in October, largely as a result of a 17-basis-point rally in mortgage rates and a one-day increase in the business calendar, according to Bear Stearns &...

National City Revises EPS.(National City Corp.)(earning per share)(Brief article)
December 1, 2006... CLEVELAND -- National City Corp. will revise its third-quarter earnings from $0.90 to $0.86 per diluted share to reflect a lower estimated value for mortgage servicing rights and a higher estimate of reserves for repurchased mortgage loans than...

The Nation's Top Five Residential Servicers Tighten Their Grip on the Market.
December 1, 2006... ($ in billions) Period Res. Servicing Serv. Dollar Vol. Ending Market Share of Top Five 2Q 2006 48.70 % $ 4,190 1Q 2006 47.69 % $ 4,033 2Q 2005 44.67 % $...

GMAC to Absorb Homecomings' Servicing Platform.(GMAC Mortgage)(Homecomings Financial)(Residential Capital Management L.L.C.)
December 1, 2006... MINNEAPOLIS -- Residential Capital, the parent company of GMAC Mortgage and GMAC-RFC, said it is integrating the mortgage servicing operations of Homecomings Financial and GMAC-RFC master servicing, and GMAC Mortgage into a single "debt...

Fiserv Aids Bank of West.(Fiserv Lending Solutions )
December 1, 2006... BROOKFIELD, WI -- Fiserv Lending Solutions said that Bank of the West, a San Francisco-based subsidiary of BancWest Corp., will use its end-to-end technology platforms to expand its branch-focused mortgage operations. Fiserv said the...

IndyMac's Servicing Is Not Just a Hedge.(IndyMac Bancorp Inc.-Michael Perry's thought on the services of IndyMac Bancorp Inc.)
December 1, 2006... IndyMac Bancorp, the fast-growing mortgage lender based in Pasadena, Calif., is known more for its loan origination acumen than its emphasis on loan servicing. But this focus on the company's growing share of the loan origination market...

Servicing Weighs on PHH.(PHH Corp.'s revenue)
December 1, 2006... MOUNT LAUREL, NJ -- PHH Corp., which is in the midst of an accounting restatement, recently advised investors that financial performance for 2006 will be held in check by the high cost of hedging its mortgage servicing portfolio and a weak loan...

Defaults on Amortizing ARMs Outpace 'Exotic' Problems.(adjustable-rate mortgages )
December 1, 2006... DENVER -- Early payment delinquency data compiled by McDash Analytics here show that the percentage of adjustable-rate mortgages that are going delinquent within the first six months of origination has risen sharply during the past 21 months,...

Banks Facing Loan Scrutiny.(Brief article)
December 1, 2006... WASHINGTON -- Federal regulators are seeking more information about nontraditional mortgage loans banks are holding in portfolio, including deferred interest they are treating as income. In early October, federal banking regulators issued...

Commercial Sector Faces Cloudy Future.
December 1, 2006... Is the bloom coming off the commercial real estate investment rose as the opportunistic capital moves towards a reviving technology sector? According to an outlook report for 2007 put out by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Washington-based Urban...

Geography Affects Prepayment Risk.(Michael Bykhovsky- Applied Financial Technology)
December 1, 2006... SAN FRANCISCO -- With rates once again slipping in the third quarter, lenders - just recovering from the biggest refinancing boom in history - have seen prepayment rates rise again. But in the mortgage secondary market, people are still...

Housing Slowdown Augurs Need for More Default Technology.
December 1, 2006... SAN MATEO, CA -- Lenders and servicers are currently concerned about the effect of falling housing prices and resets on adjustable-rate mortgage loans that might drive up defaults. Some say rising rates could push up ARM reset payment levels...

County Recorders Increasingly Embrace Electronic Commerce: 'If you're talking about e-recording lien releases, it's a quick transition.'.
December 1, 2006... NEW YORK -- While many have contended that county recorders are a hurdle to e-mortgage adoption, that is no longer the case. About 50% of loans done today can be e-recorded, and county recorders are waiting for lenders to realize the benefits...

MBA Sees up to $1.5 Billion of ARM Resets Next Year.(Mortgage Bankers Association)(adjustable-rate mortgages)(Conference news)
December 1, 2006... CHICAGO -- At the group's annual convention here, Mortgage Bankers Association chief economist Douglas Duncan said that the best estimates find between $1.1 trillion and $1.5 trillion of adjustable-rate mortgages will reset in 2007. There are...

Field Services.(Mortgage banks' service of mortgage education)(Brief article)
December 1, 2006... During the past few years the mortgage field servicing industry has been in a changing mode. It is generated from a combination of increased market demand for field services and industry efforts to educate and certify firms operating in the...

REO Gets Noticed in Mortgage Field Services Market.(real estate owned preservation)
December 1, 2006... Experts say the relatively young mortgage field services industry is fast evolving into a self-regulated marketplace that sees further growth in areas like real estate owned preservation. "REOs are an emerging area of the mortgage field...

Raising Industry Standards Is Key Agenda for SIRS.(Society of Independent Representatives)(Company overview)
December 1, 2006... NEW YORK -- When Charles Smith, CEO of the Society of Independent Representatives, looks at the mortgage servicing industry, he notices that at almost every step of the food chain, participants are subject to some sort of credentials, testing...

Servicing People.(First American Title Insurance Co. appointed Thomas L. Schlesinger)(EAG Consultants LLC appointed Barbara Steele)(Fidelity National Title Insurance Co. appointed Juliann Hickey )
December 1, 2006... CALIFORNIA Santa Ana-First American Title Insurance Co. said that its Lenders Advantage Division has named Thomas L. Schlesinger senior vice president, director of national settlement services operations. This role is in addition to...