Mortgage Servicing News articles from February 2001

Mortgage Servicing News archives from February 2001

Falling Rates Put $2.5 Trillion of Servicing Rights at Risk.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2001... In mid-January, the average contract rate on 30-year mortgage loans dipped well below the psychologically and economically important 7% level, spurring a huge increase in refinancing. And the two big questions on the minds of lenders were:...

Mortgage Debt Set to Break $5 Trillion.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... Some time this year the dollar volume of outstanding mortgage debt in the U.S. will break the $5 trillion threshold. The only question is: when? According to figures compiled by the Federal Reserve, U.S. household mortgage debt totaled...

S&P Sees Growing Demand For Special Servicing Firms.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... Standard & Poor's believes the future looks bright for servicers that specialize in managing seriously delinquent residential mortgage loans. Citing "the volatile nature of the subprime mortgage market" and evidence of an economic...

Chase Takes Over Big B&C Servicer.(Advanta Mortgage)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... Chase Manhattan Mortgage Corp., Edison, N.J., has agreed to pay $1.6 billion for the assets of Advanta Mortgage, Horsham, Pa., the fourth largest servicer of subprime residential loans. Chase is expected to keep Advanta's large...

Annualized Replenishment Rates based on Q3 '00 data.(mortgage banks)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)(Illustration)
February 1, 2001... (Dollars in Millions) (part 1 of 2) Rank Organization Name, Location 1 Resource Bancshares Mortgage, Columbia, SC 2 IndyMac Bancorp, Inc., Pasadena, CA 3 GreenPoint Mortgage Funding, Larkspur, CA 4 Crossland...

MSN/SPECIAL REPORT: Servicing Over the Internet.(mortgage loans)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... While some dotcom companies are biting the dust, the fact remains that the Internet is forever changing the way lenders communicate with their customers and their business partners. The Internet is not just for loan origination anymore....

Late Payments and Foreclosure Starts Increased Late Last Year.(homeowners' mortgage payments in 2000)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2001... For the second quarter in a row, the number of homeowners behind on their mortgage payments increased, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America. In the third quarter of last year, 4.04% of prime credit quality home loans...

Minnesota Sues Fleet Mortgage For Alleged Privacy Violations.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... Fleet Mortgage is under fire in one state for allegedly sharing information about its customers with marketing firms in violation of state consumer protection laws. The attorney general of Minnesota has filed a lawsuit against Fleet...

Moody's to Begin Rating Servicers.
February 1, 2001... Moody's Investors Service has started assigning formal quality ratings to servicers of residential mortgage securities transactions, the rating agency said last month. Moody's joins Fitch and Standard & Poor's in rating servicers. Moody's...

Annual Default Rate of Residential MBS Was 'Near Zero' in the 1990s.(mortgage-backed securities)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2001... The average annual default rate on structured finance deals rated by Fitch was 0.01% of principal during the past decade, the rating agency announced. Moreover, the average annual default rate on residential and commercial mortgage-backed...

Privacy Woes.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... If you don't yet know who Mike Hatch is, you soon will. Mr. Hatch, attorney general for the state of Minnesota, is making a name for himself as one of the nation's strongest advocates for consumer privacy rights. And he's done it, in large...

Point of View: A Capital Markets View of MSRs.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... Messrs. Aldrich, Greenberg and Payner are executives with CDC Mortgage Capital, a unit of Caisse Des Depots Group, based in France. This Viewpoint is an excerpt from a recent article they wrote about the valuation and hedging of mortgage...

Mortgage Scene: Mega Servicers Start Your Engines: The Refi Boom Is at the Door.(refinancing)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... One of the nicest things about the mortgage banking industry is its ability to surprise. Not only is the residential finance sector constantly evolving (thanks, in part, to technology) but just when you think you might have a half-way decent...

Speed Watch: Early Indicators Show Prepayment Speeds Approaching 'Boom' Levels.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2001... Looks like it's off to the races again, with a possible replay of early 1998 in the cards. The seasonally adjusted MBA Refinancing Index doubled for the week ended Jan. 5, 2001, reaching well into "refi boom" territory to hit 1572.1. The...

Technology Provider Helps Ausie Lender.(TeleTech Holdings Inc., Commonwealth bank of Australia)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... Customer management and automation provider TeleTech Holdings Inc. has reported that it has agreed to assist the European division of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia with the selling and servicing of mortgage offerings. Under the...

Countrywide Sees 'Fantastic' Year Despite Risk of Portfolio Run-Off.(Countrywide Home Loans Inc.)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2001... This past summer, refinancing volume at Countrywide Home Loans here hit an all- time low of just 7% of total originations. "It was the lowest refi rate we've ever seen at the company," said Countrywide chairman Angelo Mozilo in a recent...

New Book Outlines Strategies For Effective Risk Management.(Review)
February 1, 2001... Two senior executives with BlackRock, a money management and risk advisory firm here, have written a new book on approaches to risk management in the capital markets. In Risk Management: Approaches for Fixed Income Markets, Bennett Golub...

Approved Servicer List Now Becomes 'Select' List at S&P.(Standard and Poor's)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... Standard & Poor's has changed the name of its Approved Servicer List to the "Select Servicer" list. S&P admits servicers to its Select Servicer List based on a comprehensive assessment of the firm's operational capabilities for servicing...

Recent Servicer Rating Actions.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... Aurora loans services Upgraded to 'RPS2' for alt-A loans and upgraded to Calmco Servicing 'RMS2'for master servicing by Fitch. 'RSS2' and 'RPS2' ratings affirmed by Fitch. Fairbanks Capital 'RSS1' and 'RPS2' ratings...

Hedging: MBA Offers Guidance on Compliance With New Accounting Standard.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... Over time, the accounting issues that morphed into Financial Accounting Standard 133 have been discussed, debated, revised, and re-issued. But nobody in the mortgage industry has really digested the impact FAS 133 will have on the hedging of...

Collections: Ocwen Offers to Manage REO and Asset Recovery for Lenders.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... Ocwen Financial Corp. here, a leading servicer and subservicer of commercial and non-performing mortgage loans, this fall launched its Asset Recovery and REO Management Services groups, two specialized divisions within the company that will be...

Commercial Servicers Choose RealSynergy.
February 1, 2001... In separate company news, Ocwen announced that a number of mortgage servicers will convert to Ocwen Technology Xchange's RealSynergy 1.1 commercial and multifamily loan servicing software. According to Ocwen, the servicers include...

Foreclosure Watch: Illinois Regulator Working with Lenders on Collection of Default Data.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... Springfield, IL-Illinois' Joint Committee on Administrative Rules has agreed to revoke emergency rules on the data collection of default and foreclosure rates that were due to be filed Feb. 1. The Illinois Office of Banks and Real Estate...

Christopher Sumner.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... The Department of Housing and Urban Development is offering special forbearance relief to lenders who were subject to a federal moratorium on FHA foreclosures in so-called "hot zones." Under an agreement with the Mortgage Bankers...

Commercial Service: Economic Slowdown Not Likely to Sink Commercial Mortgage Loans.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... Most commercial real estate market participants believe the sector is in a good position to ride out any economic slowdown. But a Moody's Investors Service report may give pause to servicers. As more real estate financing is raised...

Subprime Lender Uses Interlinq Technology to Offer Online Service.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... Interlinq Software Corp. has shipped version 4.6 of its mortgage servicing software, MortgageWare Loan Servicing, and one bank is using the software to cut costs and connect its servicing platform with the Internet. Interlinq said the...

MSTD Provides Web-Based Loss Mitigation to MI Firms.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... MSTD Inc. has teamed up with two mortgage insurers, Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corp. and Radian Guaranty, to create a private mortgage insurance version of BackInTheBlack (BITB), MSTD Inc.'s Web-hosted loss mitigation software. This...

More Home Data on Web.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... First American Real Estate Solutions announced this fall that it has expanded its electronic coverage of public record property ownership and sales data by adding 272 counties in New York, Florida, Texas and Tennessee to its database. ...

E-Commerce Roundup: PNC Likes Online Home Improvement Loans.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... ImproveNet.com visitors now have another option in obtaining financing for home improvement projects. PNC Bank, Pittsburgh, is offering home equity loans and home equity lines of credit through the website to consumers in select states. ...

Alltel Sees Growing Internet Role in Customer Service; B2B Transactions.(business-to-business)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... Anticipating increasing consumer demand for online access to mortgage account data, Alltel continues to enhance Customer CareNet, a tool rolled out for mortgage servicers to provide customer service over the Internet. The Alltel customer...

Alltel Builds Alliance to Put Mortgage Information on the Web.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... In what could give a shot in the arm to the reputation of online mortgage portals, ALLTEL has announced partnering with three leading lenders to launch a new mortgage services portal. Dubbed Mortgage PhD and scheduled to begin operations...

HomeSide Seeks Internet Customers With New ByOwner.com Relationship.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... HomeSide Lending Inc., in an effort to increase the number of loans it receives via the Internet, has signed an agreement to be the exclusive mortgage provider for Long Island, N.Y.-based ByOwner.com. ByOwner.com, on a private-label...

Technology: Bank of America Launches CheckFree Electronic Billing and Payment Service.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... Bank of America, Charlotte, which has nearly three million online banking customers, will launch a new electronic billing and payment service, using the CheckFree Genesis platform. The alliance is the first stage of a strategic alliance...

EDS Adds EBP Services To Menu.(Electronic Data Systems Corp.)(electronic billing systems)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... Banking on consumer demand for electronic billing, technology giant EDS will offer its clients the ability to add electronic billing and payment capabilities from CheckFree i-Solutions to EDS' own menu of e-commerce services. Through the...

Portfolio Retention Efforts To Be Tested.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... While the recent decline in mortgage rates may have caught some lenders off guard, Wells Fargo Home Mortgage has been anticipating a possible refi boom for six months. "Last summer, we predicted that we would have a refinancing wave in...