Mortgage Servicing News articles from July 2009

Mortgage Servicing News archives from July 2009

Red Flag on CRE Riskiness.(News)
July 1, 2009... Byline: Heather Landy New York-The shorter the maturity, the smaller the risk - that's supposedly the rule of thumb in lending. But credit crunches have a way of proving exceptions to such rules, and if Deutsche Bank Securities Inc....

Many 90-Day Overdues Are Slow in Going into Foreclosure.(News)
July 1, 2009... Byline: Jennifer Harmon New York-Due to a decline in home prices and other factors, Fitch Ratings is seeing a continued rise in defaults as defined by monthly rolls of 90-plus, foreclosure or REO on a national basis. There has been a...

Servicer Criteria Will Aid Movement.(News)
July 1, 2009... Byline: James Comtois New York-To reflect current commercial real estate market conditions and their effect on mortgage servicing, Fitch Ratings here has updated its U.S. commercial mortgage-backed securities servicer rating criteria,...

HE Servicing Sector Affects Revenue.(News)
July 1, 2009... Byline: Amilda Dymi Columbus, IN-Drops in home-equity loan processing revenune and related increases in provisions for loan losses have taken a toll on first-quarter earnings of various banks. Irwin Financial Corp. here reported $94...

Unemployment Fuels Price Drop in 3 of 4 Regions.(News)
July 1, 2009... Byline: Amilda Dymi Denver-Mortgage services solutions provider Integrated Asset Services LLC here finds that at the U.S. Census region level declines in house prices correlate to initial unemployment claims in the respective areas. ...

Ambitious IPO Looks to Tap a $1T Asset Market.(Mortgage Scene)
July 1, 2009... Byline: Paul Muolo In January 2008 former Countrywide Financial president Stan Kurland formed PennyMac to bottom-feed on troubled mortgages. Now he hopes to take a REIT affiliate of the company public by selling $750 million worth of stock...

Problems Predicted in Commercial Nonperforming Loans.(Managing REO)
July 1, 2009... Byline: Jennifer Harmon Chicago-As time passes and more stress occurs in the commercial mortgage-backed securities market, there will be more activity surrounding nonperforming loans in this area, which will push buyers and sellers to get...

Industry Veterans Share Goals.(Managing REO)
July 1, 2009... Byline: Jennifer Harmon Dallas-Familiar faces in the default and servicing world are working together with property preservation vendors to fight foreclosures in this new frontier for the housing market. Victor Draper, executive vice...

A Need to Improve Validations of REO Valuations.(Managing REO)
July 1, 2009... Byline: Jennifer Harmon San Diego-There is a strong need in the mortgage industry for testing solutions for valuations on REO properties so lenders can have confidence that the valuation they have is legitimate and accurate. ...

April Foreclosures Hit Record High.(Managing REO)
July 1, 2009... Byline: Jennifer Harmon Irvine, CA-Total foreclosure activity in April ended up slightly above March, once again hitting a record-level high. Foreclosure filings including default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions...

Better Decisions Are Needed To Curb REO Losses.(Managing REO)
July 1, 2009... Byline: Jon Davis Rising foreclosure rates and REO inventories continue to strain servicing organizations across the mortgage industry. Understandably, servicers are extremely focused on enhancing the effectiveness of their foreclosure and...

Eye On Fraud.(Special Report)
July 1, 2009... The industry fight against fraud is in full swing and expanding globally. If nationally known experts contemplate best solutions and analyze past mistakes, several truths are becoming crystal clear to many. For example, income and...

Fraud: Today's Unaffordable Black Eye.(Special Report)
July 1, 2009... Byline: Amilda Dymi Fort Worth, TX-Income and employment data verification appears to be high up in renewed efforts to prevent fraud and redefaults while the mortgage industry faces an unprecedented volume of loan modifications. As...

Fighting Fraud Abroad.(Special Report)
July 1, 2009... London-The globalization of the economic and mortgage crisis is fueling a rise in anti-fraud measures from both sides of the Atlantic. Stuart Title Ltd., the United Kingdom, European, Australian and New Zealand underwriter for U.S.-based...

New Forensic Audit Services.(Special Report)
July 1, 2009... Byline: Amilda Dymi Fort Lauderdale, FL-Tools specializing in fraud detection in mortgage origination, servicing and securitization are gaining ground in the current market as lenders and borrowers look into new ways to assist homeowners...

Lenders Worry About IDentity Fraud.(Special Report)
July 1, 2009... Laguna Hills, CA-A survey shows recent changes to the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act poses "the greatest compliance concern in 2009." Also, acording to a survey of 355 lenders conducted by provider of mortgage compliance software...

Partners In The Fraud Prevention Game.(Special Report)
July 1, 2009... Byline: James Comtois Agoura Hills, CA-Some firms are trying to increase fraud prevention efficiency through strategic partnerships. The mortgage industry is tackling fraud through initiatives and partnerships designed to help mitigate...

Certification Key to Anti-Fraud Efforts.(Special Report)
July 1, 2009... Byline: Amilda Dymi Seattle-At least one firm sees specialists in fraud prevention and detection as an important part of today's efforts to combat mortgage fraud. Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro, operating through its offices in Seattle,...

20th Annual ACFE Fraud Conference.(Special Report)(Conference news)
July 1, 2009... Las Vegas-In mid-July anti-fraud professionals from around the world will gather in this gambling city to discuss ways how to prevent and detect fraudulent activity within the financial industry. The annual Fraud Conference and Exhibition...

Foreclosures Increase 27%.(Managing REO)
July 1, 2009... Byline: Brian Collins Washington-Residential foreclosure starts jumped 27% in the first quarter to 1.33% of all outstanding residential loans as state moratoriums expired and it became clear that certain at-risk homeowners cannot qualify...

EDITORIAL: The Crisis is Spreading.(News)(Editorial)
July 1, 2009... We're used to seeing terrible delinquency numbers in places hit hard by the housing collapse or by high unemployment. California, Nevada, Arizona, Florida, Ohio, Michigan, all of these have been hurt badly. But now, it seems, the crisis is...

Bill Adds White Collar Resources.(News)
July 1, 2009... Byline: Brian Collins Washington-Congress has passed landmark legislation that increases the resources of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other law enforcement agencies to pursue mortgage fraud and white-collar crimes. Among...

NPL Investor now mostly Just Subservicing.(News)
July 1, 2009... Jersey City, NJ-Franklin Credit Holdings, which made a name for itself as an investor in troubled mortgages, has restructured and is operating mostly as a subservicer. Franklin's servicing rights are now housed on the balance sheet of...

NPL Investor Hit with Cease-and-Desist Order.(News)
July 1, 2009... Irvine, CA-Kondaur Capital Corp. here - an investor in nonperforming loans - has been hit with a final cease-and-desist order by the state of Georgia for engaging in mortgage broker/lending activities without a license or without first...

Delinquencies Are up Slightly, Foreclosures Greatly.(News)
July 1, 2009... Jacksonville, FL-Total mortgage delinquencies in April rose slightly to 8.1%, with a year-over-year increase of 43%, and the nation's foreclosure rate for the month was 2.7%, representing a year-over-year increase of 90.5%, according to Lender...

Lean Years AheadFrom Bad Loans.(News)
July 1, 2009... Byline: Matthew Monks New York-Expect a lot more brackets on either side of banks' net income numbers. In its annual review of the banking sector, Moody's Investors Service projected that most U.S. banks will be unprofitable through...

24% of Homeowners Have No Savings: WF.(Special Report)
July 1, 2009... San Francisco-Roughly one-quarter of homeowners have no savings to cover their living expenses should they lose their jobs, according to new survey results released by Wells Fargo & Co., the nation's second-largest residential servicer. ...

'09 Foreclosures Hit Million.(News)
July 1, 2009... Byline: Amilda Dymi Washington-Current delinquency and foreclosure rates are reaching milestones. According to the Center for Responsible Lending a new foreclosure starts every 13 seconds, equaling nearly 6,500 a day. CRL data show the...

H&R Block NPL Portfolio Doesn't Sell.(News)
July 1, 2009... Byline: Paul Muolo Washington-A $240 million portfolio of nonperforming loans recently offered for auction by H&R Block failed to sell, according to participants with knowledge of the deal. The mortgages offered belonged to its...

Temporary Restraining Order Removed in South Carolina.(News)
July 1, 2009... Byline: Jennifer Harmon Columbia, SC-A temporary restraining order involving loans subject to modification under the Home Affordable Modification program has been removed by Chief Justice Jean Hoefer Toal of the Supreme Court of South...

Loss Mit Show Set for Dallas Loss Mit Show Set for Dallas.(News)(Conference news)
July 1, 2009... Byline: Brad Finkelstein Dallas-A workshop for real estate agents on overcoming obstacles in arranging short sales and a keynote address by an executive in Fannie Mae's servicing division highlight the first day's agenda at the SourceMedia...

Mega-Servicer Share Could Slow Mega-Servicer Share Could Slow in Time.(News Analysis)
July 1, 2009... Byline: Paul Muolo Washington-The nation's top five residential servicers, as a group, are continuing to increase their market share grip on the servicing business but there are tentative signs that barring another large M&A deal the trend...

New Loan Defaults Now Receding?(Speed Watch)
July 1, 2009... Byline: Jennifer Harmon For two consecutive quarters the UFA Default Risk Index for nonprime mortgages has been falling. The index may have reached a peak for this credit cycle with a fourth-quarter 2008 reading of 279, triple its level...

Fannie Sees High Redefaults in Its HSA Program.(Managing REO)
July 1, 2009... Byline: Brian Collins Washington-A loss mitigation approach that Fannie Mae pioneered turned out to have an extremely high redefault rate and now the company is scaling it back. The government-sponsored enterprise launched the...

GNMA Servicers at 3/31/09; (Dollars in Millions).
July 1, 2009... GNMA Serv. GNMA Serv. % Rank GNMA Issuer Location 3/31/09 3/31/08 change 1 Wells Fargo Bank NA Des Moines, IA $179,928 $134,695 34% 2 Countrywide/Bank of America (1) Pasadena, CA $106,706 $61,380 74% 3 JPMorgan Chase Columbus,...

Top Residential Servicers at March 31, 2009; (Dollars in Millions).
July 1, 2009... Servicing Volume % Market Mkt Shr Rank Name 3/31/09 3/31/08 Change Share % pt. +/- 1 Bank of America (1) $2,112,800 $529,666 299% 21.63% +16.06% 2 Wells Fargo & Co. $1,767,808 $1,482,466 19% 18.10% +2.53% 3 Chase $1,477,630...

Top Servicers in 1993 - Where Are They Today?
July 1, 2009... Servicer Name Serv. Port. '93 Where Are They Today? Countrywide $80B Almost failed, bought by BoA in July 2008 Fleet Mortgage $70B Bank parent merged, mortgage unit sold to WaMu Prudential Home $68B Sold to Norwest, which merged...