Mortgage Servicing News articles from June 2007

Mortgage Servicing News archives from June 2007

New Century Sale Remains Uncertain.
June 1, 2007... IRVINE, CA -- Efforts to salvage and sell the servicing shop and wholesale platform of bankrupt subprime giant New Century Financial Corp. remained up in the air as Mortgage Servicing News went to press. NCFC, which filed for Chapter 11...

Residential Servicers at March 31, 2007 (Sample).(Table)(Brief article)
June 1, 2007... (Dollars in Millions) Servicing Volume % Rk Organization Name Location 3/31/07 3/31/06 Change 1 Webster Bank Cheshire, CT $3,726...

B&C Accounts for 40% of Defaults.(bad credit mortgages)
June 1, 2007... NEW YORK -- Of the more than 2.6 million home loans that are currently overdue or in foreclosure, approximately 40% were made to subprime credit quality borrowers, according to DBRS and published reports. "I think 40% was kind of eye...

Housing Groups Agree on Standards For Education and Counseling Work.
June 1, 2007... WASHINGTON -- Concluding a decade-long effort to prevent predatory and poor lending practices, a group of organizations has launched voluntary compliance-based education standards and a "code of ethics." Initiated by NeighborWorks America...

CMBS May Have Peaked.
June 1, 2007... NEW YORK -- The performance of commercial mortgage-backed securities may be peaking, according to Moody's Investors Service, as the real estate cycle runs its course. This means that the last few years of low loan delinquencies and strong...

Focus Shifts to Credit as Lenders Look Back on First Quarter.
June 1, 2007... NEW YORK, NY -- It May not have been the best of times, but it certainly wasn't the worst of times either when big mortgage companies reported results for the first quarter. None of the nation's biggest servicers saw the valuation of their...

Fitch Lowers Irwin's Rating.
June 1, 2007... NEW YORK -- Fitch Ratings has downgraded the servicer rating on Irwin Home Equity Corp., a servicer of home-equity and high loan-to-value ratio loans, to "RP2-" from "RP2," its previous rating. Fitch said it completed an onsite review in...

Clayton Sees Opportunity to Grow Special Servicing.(Clayton Holdings)
June 1, 2007... SHELTON, CT -- Clayton Holdings, a provider of information-based analytics, turned in a modest profit from continuing operations in the first quarter, but the company still reported a net loss because of charges related to discontinued...

Editorial: Stepping Up to the Plate.(mortgage banks financing to avoid foreclosure)(Editorial)
June 1, 2007... While the headlines may all talk about rising foreclosures, here at MSN we are impressed by the efforts many loan servicers are making to keep borrowers in their homes. By way of example, Washington Mutual has committed up to $2 billion in...

Point of View: Assignments Becoming A Thing of the Past.
June 1, 2007... Mr. McLaughlin is executive vice president of MERS, the industry-owned utility for tracking ownership interests in mortgage loans and servicing rights. An article in the April 2007 issue of Mortgage Servicing News entitled "The...

Countrywide - Will Angelo Ever Sell?
June 1, 2007... As Mortgage Servicing News went to press this month, tongues were wagging about the favorite rumor in mortgageland: Is Countrywide Financial Corp., the golden child of industry veteran Angelo Mozilo, in play? Answer: No, it's not in play but...

Prepay Speeds Holding Steady in Recent Monthly Data: 'The cooling housing market is starting to take its toll on discount speeds.'.
June 1, 2007... Prepayment rates for 30-year mortgages in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage-backed securities were little changed in April, according to the Bear Stearns Prepayment Commentary. "Improving seasonal factors supporting housing turnover and a...

AMCORE Outsources Servicing in Bid to Limit Risk.
June 1, 2007... ROCKFORD, IL -- AMCORE Financial's earnings per share fell to $0.35 for the first quarter of this year, down 16% from the same period last year, as the company transitioned out of loan servicing operations. The company reported net income...

WMC Auctioning Scratch and Dent.
June 1, 2007... BURBANK, CA -- General Electric-owned WMC Mortgage here is trying to sell "hundreds of millions" of dollars in subprime scratch-and-dent loans, according to one market participant. A WMC spokeswoman confirmed that loans are being auctioned...

Loan Fraud Becomes More Creative as Market Slows: The scammer leaves buyers to deal with mortgages that eventually fall into foreclosure.
June 1, 2007... WASHINGTON -- Despite being in a down market, the real estate industry is seeing quite a bit of activity these days - illegal activity, that is. The number of active mortgage fraud cases investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigations...

No Federal Bailout for B&C.(bad credit loans)(subprime loans)
June 1, 2007... WASHINGTON -- The chairman of the Senate Banking Committee and the ranking Republican member last month ruled out any type of government bailout for delinquent subprime borrowers. But while the senators made their proclamation at a news...

What Does Fannie Mae's History Say about Your Future?
June 1, 2007... Fannie Mae, which is still some distance from coming current with its financial reporting, recently released earnings results for 2005. Ironically, that earnings report provides some insight into just how difficult interest-rate risk management...

Wisconsin Bank Sells Servicing Rights on $2.8B Portfolio.
June 1, 2007... GREEN BAY, WI -- Associated Banc-Corp here sold mortgage servicing rights on $2.8 billion of home loans in March, the company said in its quarterly earnings report. That portfolio accounted for 28% of the banking company's MSR portfolio....

Carrollton Feels Pinch On Margin.
June 1, 2007... BALTIMORE -- Carrollton Bancorp, the parent company of Carrollton Bank, reported net income for the first quarter of $601,000, compared to $868,000 for the first quarter of 2006, a 31% decrease. The company said its earning performance in...

Industry Says Regulations Put CMBS at Disadvantage.
June 1, 2007... A preliminary step forward towards possible changes to real estate mortgage investment conduit provisions has been made, with some industry groups responding to the Internal Revenue Service's request for input on what possible amendments could...

Huntington's MSR Problem Nips Income: The company posted a $2 million adjustment to its servicing valuation.(Mortgage Servicing Rights Valuation)(Huntington Bancshares Inc.)
June 1, 2007... COLUMBUS, OH -- Huntington Bancshares here saw its earnings slip in the first quarter, with a negative adjustment to the value of its mortgage servicing rights playing a role in the decline. Huntington said a negative adjustment to its MSR...

Integra Exits Servicing Side of Business.
June 1, 2007... EVANSVILLE, IN -- Integra Bank sold mortgage servicing rights for a $600,000 gain in the first quarter, helping the bank to post a 12.2% increase in earnings from the year-earlier period. The company also posted a $200,000 gain on...

GMAC Financial Injects Capital to Support ResCap: 'ResCap should be far less vulnerable to further adverse developments.'.
June 1, 2007... NEW YORK -- GMAC Financial Services lost $305 million in the first quarter, citing a big loss at its Residential Capital unit as the main culprit behind the downturn. GMAC Financial also said it had to inject $500 million of capital into...

Cash-Out Peak Was Last Year.(Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp.'s data on refinancing)
June 1, 2007... WASHINGTON -- Cash-out refinancings may have peaked last year when homeowners walked away from the closing table with $313.9 billion in their pockets to spend on cars, home improvements and vacations, according to data compiled by Freddie Mac....

Servicing Income Weakens at Countrywide.
June 1, 2007... ALEXANDRIA, VA -- Analysts at Friedman Billings Ramsey still recommend the shares of Countrywide Financial Corp., but FBR lowered its earnings estimate and target share price in the wake of Countrywide's first-quarter financial performance. ...

Fannie and Freddie See Big Changes in Senior Management.
June 1, 2007... WASHINGTON -- Both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac recently announced the pending departure of key executives who helped steer the government-sponsored enterprises through major financial restatements and accounting remediation. Fannie Mae's...

Colonial Buys Servicing Rights.(Colonial Savings Bank)(Brief article)
June 1, 2007... FORT WORTH, TX -- Colonial Savings has completed the purchase of servicing rights on 18,431 home loans with a principal balance of $1.7 billion from a Midwest bank, the company said last week. Colonial said that the acquisition will...

High Tech Solutions: Technology is being used as a proactive tool to keep more properties from going into foreclosure.
June 1, 2007... Faced with an increasing number of foreclosures and potential losses, lenders and servicers are looking long and hard and which loss mitigation measure will work best to keep families in their homes. There is a significant amount of loss if...

Why Auctions Attract Buyers and Sellers Alike.
June 1, 2007... NEW YORK -- Some REO market insiders claim house auctions are increasingly appealing to both buyers and sellers. The romance, they say, certainly is not in the entertaining nature of the process, which includes almost undecipherable...

Home Equity Dominates Downgrades in the First Quarter.
June 1, 2007... NEW YORK -- Downgrades of asset-backed securities tracked by Moody's Investors Service continue to be dominated by the home-equity sector, the rating agency said. And not only did the home-equity sector see a lot of downgrades in the first...

Economist: Worst May be Yet to Come.
June 1, 2007... CHICAGO -- The housing downturn is expected to shave about three-fourths of a percentage point off of economic growth during the first half of this year, according to the chief economist of Mesirow Financial here. Economist Diane Swonk...

MIC Sees Growing Demand for Proactive B&C Workouts.
June 1, 2007... NEW YORK -- Today, there is a lot of talk about using Federal Housing Administration loans to refinance troubled B&C borrowers out of risky loan products. But one company that's built its business around Veterans Affairs lending believes its...

Foreclosure Filings Hit Record High in MA.
June 1, 2007... ForeclosuresMass.com, a provider of Massachusetts foreclosure data for investors, real estate professionals and mortgage brokers, released its March Massachusetts Market Analysis Report recently, with data revealing that foreclosure filings...

Time to Update Technology & Training.(Real Estate Owned Managers Association of California meeting)
June 1, 2007... NEW YORK -- Technology is timeline and recovery driven within the REO industry, and with the right systems in place, asset managers can shave at least 20 days off their timeline, said speakers at the REOMAC Spring Conference in Indian Wells,...

Fitch Affirms HomEq Servicer Ratings.
June 1, 2007... NEW YORK -- Fitch has affirmed the primary and special servicer ratings of HomEq Servicing, a unit of Barclays Capital Real Estate, at its highest level. HomEq is rated "RPS1" as a primary servicer for alt-A and subprime mortgages and as...

Fitch: Housing Market Downturn Affects Municipal Credit.
June 1, 2007... NEW YORK -- While the housing market has registered a limited economic effect on certain areas of the nation to date, delinquency and foreclosure levels and trends indicate an emerging pressure for several states, according to a recent report...

Higher Number of Homeowners Call to Avoid Foreclosure: 'Marketing efforts to assist those in need of counseling are paying off.'.
June 1, 2007... NEW YORK -- Homeownership counseling agencies seeing a new trend of significant growth in borrower efforts to avoid foreclosure are driven by market conditions along with higher awareness about financial counseling assistance and default...

More Subprime Defaults In West Coast & Florida.
June 1, 2007... WASHINGTON -- Subprime defaults are rising nationwide and they are no longer contained in states experiencing job losses and other economic problems. Until recently, subprime defaults were concentrated in the Rust Belt states and the...

M&T Bank's Earnings Drop As Alt-A Loan Market Falters: 'It is our intention to continue to originate alt-A loans for sale to outside investors.'.
June 1, 2007... BUFFALO, NY -- With the effects of the subprime meltdown in the residential market also being felt in the alt-A sector, M&T Bank Corp.'s earnings report for the first quarter of 2007 reflects the impact that has had on the its bottom line. ...

Franklin Bank Defends Quality Of its Mortgage Balance Sheet.
June 1, 2007... HOUSTON -- Franklin Bank Corp., the parent company of Franklin Bank SSB, reported net income of $6.2 million for the first quarter 2007. In its business update, Franklin said the company's single-family portfolio has an overall average FICO...

PushMX Adds CRM Features.
June 1, 2007... SANTA CLARA, CA -- Workflow vendor PushMX here has launched PushMX Sales, a product designed to automate customer relationship management. "Our basic conclusion is that CRM in and of itself just does not measure up," said Dean Haritos,...

Document Custody.(mortgage services)(Brief article)
June 1, 2007... These days, documents are more important than ever, even though they may not be on paper anymore. Electronic mortgage initiatives, digital signatures and imaging have made storing and retrieving documents from loan files more efficient than in...

GMD Says Flexibility Is Key to Document Services.
June 1, 2007... LAKEWOOD, CO -- To executives at Guardian Mortgage Documents here, the idea of a library housing the vast number of forms and documents that lenders need to make and manage loans sounds a bit old fashioned. In today's world, GMD's leaders...

Integrity Home Mortgage Deepens Relationship with Guardian.
June 1, 2007... LAKELAND, CO -- Guardian Mortgage Services, a subsidiary of Guardian Mortgage Documents here, has helped Integrity Home Mortgage increase its volume and position the company for growth by providing closing and fulfillment services. GMS provides...

First Magnus Sticks with LSSI's WebDocs.
June 1, 2007... POWAY, CA -- Lender Support Systems Inc. will continue to provide e-mortgage lending and loan servicing solutions for First Magnus Financial Corp. The two firms have had a relationship since 1998, when LSSI started providing document...

BlitzDocs Enhances Investor Delivery.
June 1, 2007... NEW YORK -- Advectis, a provider of electronic mortgage document collaboration, recently enhanced the capabilities of its BlitzDocs Collaboration Suite. The new capabilities include better password management, configuration and additional...

Government E-Mortgage Standards Published Through MISMO Initiative.(Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization)(Brief article)
June 1, 2007... TAMPA, FL -- Attaining greater mortgage industry adoption of e-mortgage standards for residential lending is a high MISMO priority for 2007. The Mortgage Bankers Association's Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization subsidiary took...

UBS Approves DocuTech Corp. As a Provider.(UBS Financial Services Inc.)(Brief article)
June 1, 2007... IDAHO FALLS, ID -- DocuTech Corp., a provider of compliance services and documentation technology, has been approved by global financial services firm UBS to make loan closing documents available to its correspondents. UBS Conduit...

Data Tree Adds Involuntary Lien Search Service.(DocEdge.com )
June 1, 2007... SANTA ANA, CA -- Data Tree, the nation's largest provider of recorded land documents and a subsidiary of The First American Corporation, has released a new involuntary lien search feature on its DocEdge.com product that allows users to expand a...

Zenta Introduces 'KPO' Outsourcing.
June 1, 2007... NEW YORK -- Boasting offshoring credentials for the mortgage industry going back to 2000, Global Realty Outsourcing, Blackheath Financial and Zenta - formerly H-Cube - said that they are uniting under the Zenta brand to offer BPO and KPO...

Study Finds Value in Post-Closing Automation: 'Lenders need an enterprise-wide, integrated approach.'.(by Hyland Software)
June 1, 2007... NEW YORK -- A new study, "Closing the Door on Paper-Based Processes," concludes that lenders must focus on improving operational efficiency as the industry's outlook for revenue growth becomes more challenging. Specifically, the white...

Hyland Encrypts Publishing Software.
June 1, 2007... CLEVELAND -- Hyland Software, developer of the OnBase enterprise content management software suite, has encrypted its CD and DVD publishing capabilities so that lenders can ensure enhanced security for files and information. The enhanced...

Fifth Third Sees Higher MSR Value.
June 1, 2007... CINCINNATI -- Fifth Third Bancorp earned $40 million in revenue from mortgage banking in the first quarter, down from $47 million in the first quarter of last year. Fifth Third said that origination fees and gains on the sale of loans...

Wall Street, Servicers Search for Ways to Aid Borrowers.
June 1, 2007... WASHINGTON -- Wall Street investment bankers, lenders and servicers are exploring ways to help distressed borrowers whose loans are in subprime securitizations and are trying to convince Congress that they can get the job done and prevent...

IndyMac Sees Big Growth in Servicing, But Credit Concerns Rise.(IndyMac Bancorp Inc.)(Brief article)
June 1, 2007... PASADENA, CA -- IndyMac's posted dramatic growth in its loan servicing portfolio over the past year, but the hybrid thrift-mortgage bank also saw a higher share of its on-balance sheet loans fall into nonperforming status. Earnings fell to...

Insurer Shuns Subprime Risk.
June 1, 2007... PHILADEPHIA -- In the company's recent annual report to the SEC, Radian Guaranty acknowledged that the mortgage insurance industry faces challenges this year but indicated that it is prepared to manage the deterioration in subprime credit...

Servicing People.
June 1, 2007... CALIFORNIA Santa Ana-MarketLinx Inc., a provider of information technology to the residential real estate industry, appointed Robert Murray as senior vice president and chief information officer. Mr. Murray will be responsible for...

National City Takes Charges on Residuals: 'Our mortgage business continues to operate in a difficult environment, but we have less exposure than in prior years.'.
June 1, 2007... CLEVELAND -- In the fourth quarter of last year, National City Corp. booked a big gain on the sale of its subprime home loan unit, but in the first quarter of 2007, that same transaction resulted in some charges to the company's earnings. ...