Mortgage Servicing News articles from March 2002

Mortgage Servicing News archives from March 2002

Big Firms See Little Growth-Except WaMu.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... The nation's top residential servicers experienced anemic growth in the fourth quarter with one notable exception - Washington Mutual of Seattle. According to exclusive survey data compiled by Mortgage Servicing News, WaMu increased its...

Can Refi Boom Go On?(mortgage refinancing)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Mortgage rates have hovered around the 7% mark during the first two months of this year, almost half a percentage above than their low point last fall. But that hasn't put a stop to refinancing activity, and most economists expect...

First Nationwide Could Be Next.(Revlon might plan to sell parent company)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Is Revlon chief Ronald Perelman ready to sell Golden State Bancorp here, which owns the nation's ninth largest residential servicer? Golden State isn't talking, but at least one stock analyst has suggested that the thrift - the nation's...

MSR Prices Remain Low.(Industry Overview)
March 1, 2002... While the pace of refinancing has tapered off, the value of mortgage servicing portfolios has yet to show a sharp recovery. A number of factors are suppressing the value of bulk-servicing portfolios that come to market, some of them short...

Replenishment ratio of top servicers at 9/30/01.(list)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... (Dollars in Millions) (part 1 of 2) Rank Organization Name, Location 1 North American Mortgage/Dime, Tampa, FL 2 Homecomings Financial, Dallas, TX 3 National City Mortgage, Miamisburg, OH 4 Principal Residential...

Top residential servicers at 12/31/01.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... (Dollars in Millions) (part 1 of 2) Rank Organization Name, Location 1 Washington Mutual (1), Seattle, WA 2 Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, Des Moines, IA 3 Chase Manhattan Mortgage, Edison, NJ 4 Countrywide Credit...

MSN/SPECIAL REPORT.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Assignments & Reconveyances Nobody likes having to go to the county courthouse, but lenders and their business partners do it all the time. Find out how some new initiatives are making it easier to record land records. Page 27 ...

HomeSide Veterans Mine Niche Market.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... When Phil Laren left HomeSide Lending here two years ago to start his own servicing firm, most people he told about the idea thought he was, well, a bit crazy. After all, the servicing of residential loans increasingly has become a...

Jadlos Leaves Phoenix Capital.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Ted Jadlos, who co-founded Phoenix Capital here five years ago, has left the servicing brokerage/advisory firm to start his own company. Mr. Jadlos says he departed from his employer because "it was time to move on." However, there...

Commercial Lenders Keep Growing.(Industry Overview)(Statistical Data Included)
March 1, 2002... Midland Loan Services, Kansas City, Mo., emerged the top servicer of commercial mortgages for 2001 with a $68 billion portfolio, according to an survey by the Mortgage Bankers Association of America. But the nation's biggest commercial...

Court Ruling May Help Lenders in Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Cases.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... In a precedent-setting decision, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit - with jurisdiction over Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia - has ruled that a debtor in Chapter 7 bankruptcy "may...

Critics Want FHA To Speed Up Claims.(Federal Housing Administration)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... The Bush administration is pressing the Department of Housing and Urban Development to implement an accelerated claims processing program that will cut the costs of defaulted Federal Housing Administration loans. "In fiscal year 2003,...

Trial Lawyers Ready To Gear Up For Action.(mortgage lender Washington Mutual sued)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... In business as in politics, progress often is accompanied by unintended consequences. So it should come as no surprise that consolidation in the mortgage industry has attracted the attention of more than just stock analysts and investors....

Credit Score Disclosure.
March 1, 2002... Senators Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and Wayne Allard, R-Colo., have introduced "S. 1242 - Consumer Credit Score Disclosure Act of 2001." This legislation requires the disclosure of credit scores to all consumers who apply for home mortgage...

Mortgage Scene: A Weak Economic Recovery: Good News for Lenders?(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... By now you've heard the scintillating news that the U.S. economy has turned the corner and the worst is behind us. And if you believe that, I have some Enron shares I'd like to sell you . Yes, maybe the economy is turning, but if you're...

Speed Watch: Prepayment Rates Drop Sharply on Loans with Low Rates.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Speeds of new-issue 6.0%-7.0% coupons among Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage-backed securities fell sharply in the January prepayment report, reflecting the rise in mortgage rates late last year. Prepayment rates also declined, but to a...

Lehman Brothers Buys M&A Broker Cohane Rafferty.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Who says the mortgage consolidation game is over? Last month, Wall Street giant Lehman Brothers purchased mortgage investment banking boutique Cohane Rafferty Securities Inc., Harrison, N.Y., for an undisclosed sum. The privately-held...

U.S. Bancorp Buys Leader.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... A few years ago U.S. Bancorp here sold its mortgage unit and washed its hands of the residential lending sector - but that was before it merged with Firstar of Milwaukee. Last week, U.S. Bancorp agreed to buy The Leader Mortgage Co.,...

Australian Lenders Use Different Delinquency Rules.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Mortgage servicing is a different ballgame in Australia and, as that country's mortgage-backed securities are being increasingly purchased by investors outside its borders, the Australian rules for servicing have become increasingly important...

Delinquency Reporting by australia's major Mbs Issuers.(list)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Scheduled Balance Basis: - Adelaide Bank - Commonwealth Bank - National Australia Bank - St. George Bank Missed Payment Basis: - Macquarie Securitization Ltd. - Members Equity - Westpac Bank Source:...

Australian Bank's Audit Blames HomeSide.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... National Australia Bank, Melbourne, wrote down its investment in HomeSide Lending by $2.2 billion last year, but a new independent review of the matter finds no one at the bank responsible for the debacle. Instead, the review holds...

PMI Europe Does Default Swap.(PMI Mortgage Insurance Company)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... The PMI Group Inc.'s European mortgage insurance subsidiary has reported that it has completed a mortgage credit default swap agreement with Commerzbank Securities. As part of the swap arrangement, PMI Mortgage Insurance Co. Ltd. has...

B&C Expert 'Not Optimistic'.(subprime mortgage market forecast)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... A leading observer of the subprime mortgage business said he is "not real optimistic" about its outlook for 2002. David Olson of Columbia, Md.-based Wholesale Access, a consulting firm known for its studies of mortgage brokers and of...

Credit Counselor: Freddie Mac Hopes to Assist Servicers with Late Payments.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Among the biggest cost savers of any business is to make sure your customers pay on time. In the case of mortgage servicers, it's especially important now given the current economic times. An ongoing concern for Freddie Mac, the agency has...

Hedging: Fall of Enron Puts New Focus on Your Balance Sheets.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... What impact will the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history have on the mortgage industry? Not much, at first glance. Enron is an energy trading firm that has nothing to do with real estate finance. Enron's fall would seem to have few logical...

Refinancing Shortens Life of MI Policies, but Adds New Business as Well.(PMI Group Inc)
March 1, 2002... The chief financial officer of The PMI Group Inc., San Francisco, said refinancing has shortened the life span of the company's policies but also generated new opportunities to sell insurance. John Lorenzen Jr. spoke at an insurance...

Weiss Ratings: Banking Industry Short-Changes Loss Reserves.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... The average loan loss reserve at U.S. banks fell to its lowest level in eight years during the third quarter of last year as a slowing economy and a rising number of bad loans took its toll on the industry, according to Weiss Ratings Inc....

Snapshot: Loan Loss Reserves As a % of nonperforming loans.(table)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... September 2001: 129% 2000: 146% 1999: 170% 1998: 171% Source: Weiss Ratings Copyright c 2002 Thomson Media. All Rights Reserved.

High-LTV Losses Creep Up in '01.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Chargeoffs increased modestly for high loan-to-value home loan securities late last year, according to Standard & Poor's quarterly index. At the same time, prepayment speeds remained strong in the high LTV sector, the rating agency said....

Congress Won't Try to Regulate 'Mail Disruption'.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Taking the financial services industry at its honor, the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services has opted not to pass legislation that would prohibit the charging of late fees in the event of future mail disruption by terrorist attacks....

FDIC Agreement Allows Regulators to Examine 'Any Problem'.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. will be able to examine any problem bank or thrift under a new agreement struck with its fellow regulators. Under the agreement, the FDIC will be able to conduct special examinations of any...

Ocwen's Loan Management Advice: Go Global for Labor Advantage.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... The nation's most successful servicers will leverage technology to unleash a global workforce, or else they will be left behind. So says William C. Erbey, chairman and CEO of Ocwen Financial Corp. here, a major subprime servicer. The...

LOGS Teams Up with Prizm.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... LOGS Financial Services, a national provider of default management services, and Prizm Technologies have formed a strategic alliance to create new "process-driven solutions" for their respective clients in the mortgage servicing industry. ...

TransUnion Partners with CSW.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... TransUnion has formed an alliance with Case Shiller Weiss Inc., Cambridge, Mass., that will make CSW's Characteristics and Sales Analysis system, an automated property valuation model, available through TU's suite of residential lending...

Household Picks Fiserv's Servicing Technology for Subprime Portfolio.
March 1, 2002... Household International's mortgage services business has decided to use the MortgageServ loan automation platform to service loans, citing its suitability for nonconforming mortgage loans as a key factor in the choice. Household, a major...

AppIntell Offers BPOs On The 'Net.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... AppIntell Inc. here has announced that the company will integrate its Internet-based broker price opinion service, WebBPO, into MSTD's Web-based collections and loss mitigation platform, BackInTheBlack. Camillo Melchiorre, executive vice...

Alltel Pilots Use of Digital Signatures.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Application service provider Alltel has been testing the use of digital signatures to automate the lending process. John Crowley, a product planning and strategy executive in Alltel's financial services unit, said the aim of the pilot was...

Trakker Sees Jump In Software Sales.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Multi-Financial Services Co., parent of Trakker Loan Servicing Software, said the company saw an increase in active software licenses and sales of new licenses last year. Trakker announced that the number of active licenses increased 22%...

FICS Software Conversion Is Done.(Financial Industry Computer Systems)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Financial Industry Computer Systems announced that it has converted its DOS-based commercial mortgage servicing system to the Windows operating environment. FICS said it had successfully converted its commercial mortgage clients to the...

Commercial Servicer: Increase in CMBS Delinquencies Reflects Attack Fallout.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... One visible fallout of the terrrorist attacks of last Sept. 11 has been an increase in delinquency rates for commercial real estate-backed mortgage loans. And thanks to a slowdown in travel, hotel properties have been especially impacted. ...

...But Outlook Remains Hopeful for Most Properties.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... As the economic slowdown progresses this year, it is inevitable that real estate will start to feel the pain, according to Tony Pierson. However, real estate still looks good on a relative basis, having outperformed the S&P 500 and the bond...

Housing Scene: Insurance Costs Skyrocket for Apartment Owners.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 1, 2002... Although the inability to obtain insurance covering acts of terrorism has been widely reported, apartment owners also are facing an explosion in premium costs for all types of insurance, creating higher hurdles for deals to overcome. ...

'Trophy' Buildings Hurt by Insurance Pullback.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Although it is not clear at this stage if Congress is going to provide a federal backstop for the insurance industry to make terrorism insurance available for commercial real estate properties, a number of industry participants believe that...

MBA Approves Lending Docs.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) has approved new document templates for commercial loans issued by co-lenders. Jeff Williams, managing director, David L. Babson & Co., a member of the MassMutual Finance Group and chairman of the...

Web-Based Trading of Commercial Loans on the Rise.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... An analysis conducted by the Mortgage Bankers Association of America suggests that the Web is an increasingly important tool used to originate and trade commercial mortgage loans. During the first half of last year, the MBA found that...

Snapshot: Online Commercial Mortgage Activity in the first half of 2001.(Brief Article)(Illustration)(Statistical Data Included)
March 1, 2002... Online Mortgage Trading: $200 million Online Mortgage Lending: $61 million Web-Enabled Lending: $1.85 billion Source: MBA survey of firms. Copyright c 2002 Thomson Media. All Rights Reserved.

Most Property Sectors Hold Up Despite Recession.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 1, 2002... Looking at the commercial real estate market and investors' projections for 2002, it's a mixed bag of news. There has been a drop in the overall value of commercial real estate since the Sept. 11 attacks, but only a "miniscule" 0.5%,...

Assignments & Reconveyances Special Report.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Many companies record lien releases, reconveyances and assignments, helping lenders manage loan payoffs and loan transfers. And the business is booming. The refinancing wave of the last 14 months has generated a record level of loan payoffs...

Recording Burden is 'Dark Side' of Refi Boom.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... A surge of refinancing generates loan origination income and fresh loan servicing rights for big lenders, but not without a cost. Some expenditures, such as those associated with recording lien releases, also surge in times of heavy...

First American Links to MGIC.(Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corp)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... An upgrade to First American's CMAX claims software now makes it possible for Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corp. to receive claims from First American Default Management Solutions electronically. According to MGIC, it is the only private...

Rapidly Growing Loan Registry Eliminates Assignment Costs.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... About a third of newly originated loans are currently being registered on the electronic registry for tracking ownership of loans and servicing rights, and the adoption rate continues to grow. Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems Inc.,...

Servicers Stand to Benefit from Electronic Recording Initiatives.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... There is great value - for lenders, borrower and investors - in originating fully electronic mortgages. No one argues this. The current question relates to how soon this can become a reality. While some argue that county recorders will never...

Orion Seeks to Automate Document Recording Process.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Orion Financial Group here, a firm created by veterans of the consumer finance and home equity lending business, is seeking to take some of the pain out of recording mortgage assignment and release paperwork. By automating the process,...

Old Republic Adds Bankruptcy Reports.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Old Republic Title, Residential Information Services has added a new bankruptcy reporting product to its menu. The bankruptcy report service provides customers with information about the status of bankruptcy cases. The customers are...

Index Shows 4th Q Decline in Housing Trends.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 1, 2002... The Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Co.'s index of housing market trends showed a decline in the fourth quarter of last year, becoming one of the first measures of housing market conditions to show weakness. But at the same time, MGIC said...

Servicing People.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... CALIFORNIA Calabasas- Pete Mills has been named as senior vice president of legislative and regulatory affairs of Countrywide Credit Industries Inc. Mr. Mills will be responsible for enhancing the company's issue management capabilities...