Mortgage Servicing News articles from February 2008

Mortgage Servicing News archives from February 2008

CFC+BOA=$1.9T of MSRs.
February 1, 2008... Washington -- When Bank of America finally swallows Countrywide Financial Corp. it will have a $1.9 trillion servicing portfolio and a market share of 21%. Some executives are already calling it "The Death Star" of servicing. Then again,...

Is WaMu Talking to JPM?
February 1, 2008... Seattle -- JPMorgan Chase & Co. is talking to Washington Mutual here about possibly buying the nation's largest thrift, according to industry sources. One source close to WaMu said, "There's a lot of suits walking around the hallways" at...

Cramdowns on Agenda In Bankruptcy Debate.
February 1, 2008... Washington -- With rising defaults and foreclosures, House and Senate Democrats are expected to push hard for a bill that allows troubled borrowers to get their mortgages restructured by a bankruptcy judge. The House Judiciary Committee...

Consumers Spooked By Debt, Foreclosures.
February 1, 2008... Washington -- A Center for American Progress report finds that as the housing crisis is getting worse with third quarter of 2007 featuring "the highest foreclosure rate on record - 0.8% of all mortgages foreclosed - after six consecutive...

Wells Hits $1.5T MSR Threshold.
February 1, 2008... San Francisco -- For all the bad news affecting the mortgage business, the biggest home loan servicers continue to grow their portfolios, demonstrating long-term confidence in the business. Wells Fargo owned servicing rights on $1.53...

Top Alt-A Servicers in 3Q 07.
February 1, 2008... ($ in Millions) Alt-A Servicers % Rk Organization Name Q3 07 Q3 06 Change 1 Wells Fargo Home Mortgage $93,362 $70,553 32% 2 CitiMortgage Inc. $64,973 na na 3 EMC...

Lenders Skeptical about FHA Role in Rescuing Borrowers.
February 1, 2008... Washington -- The Bush administration is depending on the Federal Housing Administration to refinance a lot of subprime borrowers to stem rising foreclosures, including delinquent homeowners under its FHA Secure program. But lenders have...

Is Relief Needed for Prime ARMs Too?
February 1, 2008... Washington -- Treasury secretary Henry Paulson hinted last week that the teaser-freezer program for subprime borrowers may need to be expanded to prime borrowers who are facing problems making payments on their adjustable-rate mortgages. ...

B&C Default Rate Continues to Soar.(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Washington -- The default rate on subprime mortgage loans hit 19.4 % in October, more than double the rate from a year ago, and it is going to go higher, according to Friedman Billings Ramsey. The default rate on non-agency securitized...

Editorial: Ramifications.(Editorial)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... This year is shaping up to be a turning point for the mortgage industry, and servicers are going to play a key role in how the industry's image weathers the current storm. There's plenty of blame to pass around in the wake of the subprime...

Point of View: Web services Key to Recovery.
February 1, 2008... Mr. Houhalis is CIO and EVP of the Mortgage Servicing Division at Fidelity National Information Services. As the mortgage industry maneuvers to regain the confidence of market forces supporting homeownership, the demand for real-time data...

The CFC Story Is Over, Now a New Saga Begins ...
February 1, 2008... For Angelo Mozilo, founder, chairman and CEO of Countrywide Financial, the story is over but a new one is beginning for his "baby" of almost 40 years. As this column went to press, the news had broken that Bank of America would buy the...

Prepayment Rates Continued to Fall Late in 2007.
February 1, 2008... Prepayment rates for 30-year mortgage loans in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage-backed securities declined in November by 6% and 8%, respectively, according to the Bear Stearns Prepayment Commentary. The aggregate speed of 30-year Fannie...

Markdowns Take Toll on Impac.(Impac Mortgage Holdings Inc.)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Irvine, CA -- Former alt-A giant Impac Mortgage Holdings posted a $1.2 billion loss in the third quarter, $790 million of it tied to markdowns on various types of collateral, including derivatives. The company - whose shares now trade for...

Economist: Housing Damage Is Mostly Done, But that Doesn't Mean Recovery Is Underway.(Conference notes)
February 1, 2008... New York -- Although the chief economist at Standard & Poor's doesn't see the housing sector reaching bottom for 12 more months or so, he still gave a surprisingly upbeat forecast while keynoting SourceMedia's Mortgage Outlook 2008 Conference...

Mudd: Innovation Needed to Rescue B&C Borrowers.
February 1, 2008... Washington -- Some blame creative financing for putting so many borrowers on the brink of foreclosure, but one of the industry's top executives thinks innovation also is key to solving the problem. Speaking at an American Enterprise...

Debt Resolve Eyes Home Loan Modification Space.
February 1, 2008... White Plains, NY -- Debt Resolve, which provides consumer debt resolution as well as collections and skip tracing services, has entered into an agreement with a California firm to provide a product for the subprime home mortgage workout/note...

Mortgage Assistance Center Buys $3.3 Million Loan Pool.(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Dallas -- Mortgage Assistance Center Corp. has purchased a $3.3 million pool of residential assets. "Our recent agreement this past October with a large Dallas-based investment fund, which provided for up to what is now $75 million in...

Consumers Are Not Paying Down Debts.
February 1, 2008... Chicago -- Consumers did not include paying down debt as one of their New Year's resolutions, according to a survey conducted on behalf of TransUnion. The survey found that in 2007, one-quarter of consumers missed making one or more of...

Rates Drop Below 6%, But Refis Hardly Surging.
February 1, 2008... Long-term mortgage rates dropped below the psychologically important 6% mark in early January, which raises the specter that servicers may have to manage higher portfolio churning at the same time they are busy trying to cope with a rising...

Private Label Woes Aid GSE Business.
February 1, 2008... Washington -- Fannie Mae's credit guarantee business has benefited from the meltdown in the private-label securities market and two new customers who used to rely mainly on its cross-town competitor Freddie Mac. Fannie issued $62.6 billion in...

MBA Sees Shift Toward FRM Loans.
February 1, 2008... Washington -- A shift towards fixed-rate loans occurred in both the overall and subprime mortgage origination markets, according to the results of a pair of surveys conducted by the Mortgage Bankers Association of America. According to the...

Buyers & Sellers Beware.
February 1, 2008... If 2007 was bad with the subprime fallout last March; well hang on to your hats for the default train of 2008! With many of the low teaser rates expiring again in March 2008, there will be hundreds of thousands of foreclosures this year. An...

Evest Launches New Fund To Acquire Distressed Debt.(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Stamford, CT -- Evest Capital here, an acquisition and advisory company specializing in the structured finance industry, is raising funds to invest in subperforming mortgage assets. Evest Capital and an affiliate, EvestMAC, closed a new...

Delinquencies Hit Bank Held Home-Equity Loans.
February 1, 2008... Washington -- The delinquency rate on home-equity loan products held by banks rose sharply in the third quarter, and the chief economist of the American Bankers Association believes the trend line may worsen in the fourth quarter. The...

Foreign Investors Take Advantage of Online REO Auctions.
February 1, 2008... Tampa, FL -- The current foreclosure crisis combined with a weaker dollar compared to some of the major world currencies appears to be the drive behind an unprecedented number of online property auctions by foreign investors. ...

ARM Loan Holders Feel Endangered by Foreclosure.
February 1, 2008... Silver Spring, MD-A recent study shows that the majority of adjustable-rate mortgage customers now are in a "foreclosure state of mind" worrying whether they will be able to pay monthly dues when interest rates start to adjust. According...

Fitch Downgrades MBS Due to Loss Forecast.
February 1, 2008... New York -- About 280 classes of mortgage-backed securities from more than 20 issuers were recently downgraded by Fitch Ratings as a result of changes to its subprime loss forecasting assumptions. Fitch also affirmed the ratings on classes...

NFCC Launches Debt Advice Website in Spanish.(Website overview)
February 1, 2008... Silver Spring, MD -- The National Foundation for Credit Counseling here has launched TermineConSuDeuda.org, a Spanish-language version of its DebtAdvice.org website. The new site responded to findings by a 2007 NFCC financial literacy...

Deutsche Bank Reviews MBS Unit.
February 1, 2008... New York -- Deutsche Bank, a top-ranked issuer of subprime MBS, in the first quarter will conduct a top-to-bottom review of its entire mortgage business, according to officials at the company. A spokeswoman for the bank confirmed that a...

Colorado Was Nation's Top Foreclosure Rate State.
February 1, 2008... Colorado posted the nation's highest state foreclosure rate in December 2006. It rose to the top with one new foreclosure filing for every 376 households, despite a nearly 4% dip in foreclosure activity from November, according to...

Commercial and Multifamily Debt Goes Up.
February 1, 2008... Washington -- Commercial and multifamily mortgage debt outstanding was up 2.8% in the third quarter, or $87.7 billion from the previous three month period, reaching $3.22 trillion, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Multifamily...

Expert: Watch Out for REO Disposition Mistakes.
February 1, 2008... The ten biggest mistakes made when working with REO disposition can be avoided. Whether in REO disposition or outsourcing environments, REO asset managers struggle with these issues and opportunities to improve. According to CJ Gehlke,...

Analysts Grow Concerned about Prospects for CRE.
February 1, 2008... Heading into 2008, industry watchers are concerned about what impact a slowing economy might have on the commercial real estate sector. In one sign of increased caution, Fitch Ratings is raising subordination levels on commercial...

Legal Issues.(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Anyone following the mortgage legal and regulatory environment too closely this past year must have found their head spinning by the end of it all. A flurry of local, state and federal legislative activity, coupled with an increasing number of...

Cities Take Aim at Servicers in Foreclosure Crisis.
February 1, 2008... New York -- Mayors of cities, most prominently Cleveland and Baltimore, are taking aim at mortgage lenders with lawsuits alleging that the lenders and investment banks that financed loans have contributed to a foreclosure crisis in their...

Realty Veteran Joins Chapman and Cutler.
February 1, 2008... Chicago -- In a move that the firm says will fortify its corporate practice in the area of finance law, Chapman and Cutler has hired Philip Edison as a partner in its Chicago office. Mr. Edison, a corporate transactions attorney and real...

Cyclical Market Affects Legal Perspective as Well.
February 1, 2008... Warwick, RI -- Simply put, the current crisis is another showcase of "the market working," Charles A. Lovell, the chair of Partridge Snow & Hahn LLP's creditors' rights practice group, told MSN. As the market readjusts going forward, he...

Congress Acts on Flurry of Mortgage Issues.
February 1, 2008... Washington -- In a flurry of legislative activity, Congress completed action on a mortgage debt tax relief bill and an extension of the federal governments terrorism insurance program before adjourning for last year. Passage of the...

Outlook Called Not that Bad.(Jefferies and Company Inc.)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... San Francisco -- A report from a Jefferies & Co. Inc. office here acknowledges that credit and liquidity issues are likely to continue to weigh on financial stocks next year, but they believe many types of loans will perform better than...

Servicing People.(Mortgage Bankers Association promoted John C. Golden)(Fidelity National Real Estate Solutions)(Broadpoint DESCAP)
February 1, 2008... DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA WashingtonThe Mortgage Bankers Association promoted John C. Golden as senior vice president of education. In this capacity, he will be a key contributor in setting the strategic vision as well as for leading the...

Countrywide Adds to Servicing Portfolio.
February 1, 2008... Calabasas, CA -- Prior to announcing a planned acquisition by Bank of America, Countrywide's stock was in the tank, its origination volume is falling and Wall Street is worried about its ability to weather credit losses, but Countrywide...

FHA Lender Puts Focus On Underwriting Resource.
February 1, 2008... Denver -- Motivity Solutions here has launched LenderBuilt, a venture the company calls a "visionary" technology co-development initiative that offers midsize mortgage bankers the option to update their existing mortgage tools, technology...