Mortgage Servicing News articles from February 2005

Mortgage Servicing News archives from February 2005

Will Fannie Slash Servicing Fee?(Federal National Mortgage Association)
February 1, 2005... Washington -- Fannie Mae could be moving closer to slashing its minimum servicing fee, industry executives told Mortgage Servicing News. If Fannie does in fact cut its servicing fee (currently set at 25 basis points), it's expected that...

The Big Three Servicers: Valuing Their Residential Receivables.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... (Dollars in Millions) Servicer Serv. Asset Value Residential Serv. Name at 9-30-04 Vol at 9-30-04 Countrywide $8,153 $785,992 Wells Fargo $7,768 $761,500 ...

CRE Debt Growing Fast.(Commercial and multifamily mortgage)
February 1, 2005... Washington -- Commercial and multifamily mortgage debt outstanding grew 2.4%, by $51.7 billion, to $2.2 trillion between the second and third quarters of 2004, the Mortgage Bankers Association reports. Multifamily debt alone grew by $8.2...

Top Commercial Servicers at Sept 30, 2004.(Brief Article)(Illustration)
February 1, 2005... (Dollars in Millions) (part 1 of 2) Rk Organization Name Location 1 GMAC Commercial Holding Corp. Horsham, PA 2 Wachovia (E) Charlotte, NC 3 GEMSA...

HUD Turns to Faith-Based Counseling.(Department of Housing and Urban Development )
February 1, 2005... New York -- Department of Housing and Urban Development secretary Alphonso Jackson thinks a little religion might help bring down the sky-high delinquency rate on FHA loans. Saying that the default rates "are much lower than they were,"...

Servicing Deals Are Heating Up.(Mortgage Servicing News )
February 1, 2005... Washington -- The "bulk" market for residential servicing rights is finally showing some signs of life. But will it last? As Mortgage Servicing News went to press, General Electric had finally unloaded the last chunk of its residential...

Lenders Beef Up FHA Underwriting.(Federal Housing Administration)
February 1, 2005... Washington -- The penalties for getting caught under the Credit Watch program are not all that painful sometimes, but they are forcing Federal Housing Administration lenders to tighten their underwriting standards. Last September, the...

B&C Improving, But Weak Spots Remain.
February 1, 2005... San Francisco -- Data compiled by LoanPerformance, San Francisco, show improvement in the serious delinquency rate for both prime and subprime mortgage loans, but the data also show that some areas of the market continue to suffer from...

At A Glance: 'Early Warning Signs' in Subprime Performance for Loans Made in 2003.(Illustration)
February 1, 2005... State '03 SD Rate New Mexico 3.60% Utah 3.57% Ohio 3.51% Oklahoma 3.51% Colorado 3.40% Mississippi 3.34% Georgia 3.33% Note:...

Court Backs Lender On Terror Insurance.(New York State Appeals Court decides in favor of GMAC Commercial Credit)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... New York -- GMAC Commercial has prevailed in a terrorism insurance court battle against Brookfield Properties. The New York State Appeals Court has ruled that the commercial mortgage lender can force Brookfield Properties to buy terrorism...

ScoreText Captures 'Unstructured' Data.(LoanPerformance)
February 1, 2005... San Francisco -- LoanPerformance here has teamed up with Intelligent Results, Bellevue, Wash., to create ScoreText, a software application that integrates structured data with "unstructured data" that might be gleaned from a lender's portfolio....

Trends Suggest Delinquency Rate May Head Lower.
February 1, 2005... Washington -- It may be a modest trend, but the delinquency rate on home loans appears to be improving, and some industry economists are optimistic that the trend will continue. In the third quarter, the percentage of home loans more than...

Don't Overlook Commercial.(growth of commercial mortgage debt outstanding)
February 1, 2005... Residential mortgage servicers have been buoyed by strong growth in mortgage debt outstanding in recent years. While the pace in growth is expected to slow, leading economists are still projecting growth of 8% to 10% annually in upcoming years....

HELOCs Better Suited For Servicing Platforms.(Home Equity Line Of Credit)
February 1, 2005... Mortgage lenders and servicers have an insatiable appetite for two things: risk minimization and cost reduction. While this may sound like an oversimplification, it is certainly true that financial institutions are laser-focused on these two...

The 'Invisible' Mortgage Banker: Wall Street.
February 1, 2005... Thanks to all those TV commercials as well as big full-page ads in The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, some consumers actually have a vague idea that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac play a role in the mortgage market - providing...

Fannie, Freddie Prepay Speeds Diverge.
February 1, 2005... Prepayment rates for 30-year Fannie Mae mortgage-backed securities rose slightly in December, while 30-year Freddie Mac MBS speeds recorded somewhat larger increases. For Fannie 30-year MBS issues, the aggregate speed increased by a...

Cal Lenders Win Victory On YSPs.(California)(yield-spread premiums)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Washington -- A California Appeals Court has ruled the state's predatory lending law does not require lenders to include yield-spread premiums, sometimes referred to as servicing-release spreads, in the points and fees test. In ruling in...

Finance Board Taking a Look At FHLB Portfolio Programs.(Federal Home Loan Banks)
February 1, 2005... Washington -- The new chairman of the Federal Housing Finance Board is trying to determine if the Federal Home Loan Banks are taking excessive risks in purchasing mortgages from their members and holding them in portfolio. Finance Board...

Freddie Appoints Smialowski to EVP Post.(Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp.)(appointment of Smialowski, Joseph A.)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... McLean, VA -- Freddie Mac here has named Joseph A. Smialowski executive vice president, operations and technology effective Dec. 1. Mr. Smialowski most recently was executive vice president at Fleet Boston Financial where he was part of the...

Refinancing Share Falls to 44% as Volume Drops Sharply.
February 1, 2005... Washington -- In the third quarter, refinancing fell to an almost four-year low as conventional funders turned in their second-worst quarterly performance in more than two years. According to survey figures compiled by Mortgage Servicing...

BenchMark Readies Home-Equity Study.(BenchMark Consulting International)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Atlanta -- BenchMark Consulting Inter-national here has launched its annual home-equity and consumer lending benchmark program. The company said this year's program will examine data from over a dozen leading home-equity lenders. Jim...

Stephen J. Rotella.(appointment of Washington Mutual Inc. )(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Mr. Rotella has been named president and chief operating officer of Washington Mutual Inc. He previously was chief executive officer at Chase Home Finance and an executive vice president at J.P. Morgan Chase. Copyright 2005 Thomson Media...

Mezzanine Financing Market Gets Crowded.
February 1, 2005... New York -- The commercial real estate mezzanine financing niche may be getting crowded with opportunistic investors and it is likely that some players will be forced out of the field when times get tougher, according to some lenders at a...

The FAS 133 Guillotine: Could You Be Next?(Financial Accounting Standards)
February 1, 2005... First, it happened at Freddie Mac. Next, it was Fannie Mae's turn. The question mortgage servicers should be asking is "could it happen to me." The senior most executives at both of the housing GSEs have lost their jobs over the past two...

Manufactured Housing Still Causes Distress.
February 1, 2005... New York -- The credit performance of U.S. structured finance securities in asset-backed, commercial mortgage and residential mortgage classes improved, but only slightly, in the first half of last year. And manufactured housing continued...

Snapshot: Expected Loss Rate.
February 1, 2005... Investment grade RMBS 16.5% Speculative grade RMBS 54.8% Source: Moody's Copyright 2005 Thomson Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. http://www.thomsonmedia.com http://www.mortgageservicingnews.com

AFN Hires and Promotes Key Executives to Posts.(American Legal & Financial Network )(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Scottsdale, AZ -- The board of directors of American Legal & Financial Network has promoted Matt Bartel to the position of executive director while filling two additional key staff positions. As the executive director, he will assist the...

MI Cure Ratio Improves.(Mortgage insurance)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Washington -- The Mortgage Insurance Companies of America, Washington, reported that the number of defaults continued to exceed cures for the eighth consecutive month in November of last year. Members of the industry trade association saw...

MI Defaults Exceed Cures.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Month Cures Default June '04 32,346 42,208 July '04 31,340 46,131 Aug. '04 36,602 42,482 Sept. '04 34,451 43,656 Oct. '04 33,532 45,343 Nov. '04 36,237 43,050 ...

Appreciation Expected to Slow Down.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Washington -- Expect single-family mortgage origination to decline by 10% to 20% in 2005, according to two secondary market economists as refinancing and the home sales market cool off. Fannie Mae chief economist David Berson sees originations...

Fidelity Selling 25% Stake in Tech Unit to Thomas Lee.(Fidelity National Financial )
February 1, 2005... Jacksonville, Fla. -- Fidelity National Financial here has agreed to sell a 25% stake in its mortgage and banking technology business to buy-out king Thomas H. Lee Partners LP, and other firm, Texas Pacific Group, for $500 million. ...

Fidelity Buys Back 2.5 Million Shares.(Fidelity National Financial)(Stein & Partners)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Jacksonville, FL -- Fidelity National Financial has repurchased just over 2.5 million shares of its common stock from Willis Stein & Partners, a Chicago-based private-equity firm, and J.P. Morgan Chase, as escrow agent for the former...

CMBS Delinquencies Peak Lower than Expected.(Commercial mortgage backed securities)
February 1, 2005... Commercial mortgage delinquencies have held up well in the current economic cycle, and appear to have peaked well below the 3% high that some commercial mortgage-backed securities market participants and rating agencies were anticipating CMBS...

Consumer Spending Boosts Some Real Estate Values.
February 1, 2005... New York -- Property sectors driven by consumer spending - multifamily and retail - remain strong while those tied more to the corporate side - office and industrial - lag, although they continue to recover, Moody's Investors Service says in...

CMSA Updates Investor Reporting Guide.(Commercial Mortgage Securities Association)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... New York -- The Commercial Mortgage Securities Association has released the latest version of its investor reporting package. The trade association representing the commercial mortgage-backed securities industry reports that version 3.1 of...

CMBS Players Seek More Clout in D.C.(Commercial Mortgage Securities Association)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... New York -- The Commercial Mortgage Securities Association has formed a federal political action committee to deal with issues impacting the commercial mortgage-backed securities industry on Capitol Hill. Dottie Cunningham, CEO of the CMBS...

Data-Vision Builds New Doc Delivery and E-Signature Options.
February 1, 2005... Mishawaka, IN -- Data-Vision will expand into new areas in 2005 while continuing to build on its doc preparation and delivery expertise to include electronic signature and electronic loan folder functionality. Many of the company's clients...

QRM Predicts Credit Risk.(Quantitative Risk Management)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Chicago -- Quantitative Risk Management here said that one of the nation's five largest banks has gone live with the company's new credit risk module for forecasting credit losses in commercial and consumer loan portfolios. QRM said the...

Subservicing.
February 1, 2005... Subservicers specialize in loan administration, offering a menu of services, usually on a private-label basis, to their clients. The clients maintain ownership of the servicing portfolio, but when the phone rings, it's the subservicer's job to...

Study Shows Subservicing Industry Gaining Popularity.
February 1, 2005... Washington -- The MBA annual cost study suggests that subservicing has become an increasingly popular option for loan administration, especially among smaller lenders. The annual MBA cost study found that 0.55% of loans were subserviced by...

Ocwen Will Drop Its Thrift Charter.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Washington -- Ocwen Federal Bank FSB, West Palm Beach, Fla., has filed an application with its regulator to turn in its federal thrift charter, a move that will prohibit it from taking deposits in the U.S. Ocwen Federal, a subsidiary of...

Option One Tops Subprime List.
February 1, 2005... New York -- Option One Mortgage Corp., Irvine, Calif., is now the largest subservicer of nonprime credit quality mortgage loans, according to data collected by this newspaper's Quarterly Data Report. Option One subserviced $15.8 billion in...

Top Subprime Subservicers at 9/30/04.(Illustration)
February 1, 2005... (Dollars in Millions) (part 1 of 2) Rk Organization Name Location 1 Option One Mortgage Corp. Irvine, CA 2 Homeq Servicing Corp. North Highlands, CA 3...

Big Title Firm Moves into the Subservicing Arena.
February 1, 2005... Richmond, VA -- LandAmerica Financial Group, which agreed to purchase LoanCare Servicing Center in October, is apparently the first title industry firm to make a big push into the subservicing business. For LoanCare, based in Norfolk, Va.,...

FZC Offers Flood Zone Correction Services.
February 1, 2005... West Palm Beach, FL -- Flood Zone Corr-ection, the nation's first flood zone correction company, has formed an alliance that will have FZC providing the Willis Group with flood zone correction services for U.S. real estate assets owned and...

Nanette Stevens.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Ms. Stevens has been named general manager of National City Home Loan Services. National City HLS, Pittsburgh, is focused on servicing nonconforming loans originated by First Franklin Financial Corp., an affiliate of National City. Ms. Stevens...

HELOC Servicing Added to Cenlar's Menu of Options.
February 1, 2005... New York -- The days of plain vanilla may be numbered in the subservicing business, according to senior executives at Cenlar FSB, the nation's second-largest subservicer. Senior vice president and business development director Dave Miller...

Snapshot: HUD's Homeownership Counseling Budget.(Department of Housing & Urban Development )(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... 2002 $18 million 2003 $37 million 2004 $43.7 million 2005 $41.7 million Source: HUD. Numbers are amounts appropriated by Congress for the fiscal year, which runs October through Sept. Copyright 2005...

MBA Opposes FHA's Condo Escrow Account Proposal.(Mortgage Bankers Association)(Federal Housing Administration )(Condominium)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Washington -- The Mortgage Bankers Assoc-iation is urging the FHA to drop a proposal that would require servicers to set up escrow accounts for condominium and homeowner association dues. The trade group also wants the Federal Housing...

Servicing People.
February 1, 2005... CALIFORNIA San Francisco-Applied Financial Technology has appointed Eric Christensen as vice president of sales. A veteran of the mortgage industry, Mr. Christensen was most recently director of risk-based pricing at Fannie Mae. ...

HELOC Growth Worries OCC.(Office of the Comptroller of the Currency )
February 1, 2005... Washington -- Federal banking regulators are getting nervous about the "extraordinary" growth of home-equity lending at a time when interest rates are starting to rise and home price appreciation is expected to slow. The Office of the...

Odds Favor Tough GSE Law.
February 1, 2005... Washington -- The accounting scandal at Fannie Mae has upped the odds that Congress will pass a strong GSE regulatory reform bill, but there are concerns among some housing groups that the Bush administration might try to push for an even...