Mortgage Servicing News articles from March 2003

Mortgage Servicing News archives from March 2003

Ginnie Mae Cuts Servicing Fee.
March 1, 2003... The Government National Mortgage Association has revamped its 18-year-old Ginnie Mae II securities program by reducing its minimum servicing fee in a move that could lead to a similar change in the conventional market. Ginnie Mae reduced...

Alltel Fetches $1 Billion.
March 1, 2003... Fidelity National Financial here, which has been on an acquisition binge, struck again last month - this time, agreeing to buy the financial services division of technology giant, Alltel, Little Rock, Ark., in a billion dollar deal. ...

GMACCM Remains on Top.(GMAC Commercial Mortgage Corp)
March 1, 2003... GMAC Commercial Mortgage Corp., Horsham, Pa., tops the Mortgage Bankers Association's annual ranking of commercial loan servicers. At the end of 2002, GMAC was administering nearly $133.8 billion in master and primary servicing, or $50.2...

USFN Marks Fifteen Years.
March 1, 2003... Twenty years ago, foreclosure attorneys across the nation were "isolated islands" that had few opportunities to share information, according to one of the founders of a group that represents the industry. "We were isolated by geography....

VA Specialist Keeps MSRs.
March 1, 2003... Mortgage Investors Corp. here, the largest VA refi specialist in the nation, has decided to keep the servicing rights it originates instead of selling its production servicing-released. MIC, though, will not be doing the servicing chores...

Year End Commercial Mortgage Servicing Survey Period Ending December 31, 2002.(Illustration)
March 1, 2003... Ranking by total master & primary servicing volume. (part 1 of 2) Rank Company 1 GMAC Commercial Mortgage Corporation 2 Wachovia Securities 3 Midland Loan Services, Inc. 4 CapMark Services...

Top Residential Servicers at 12/31/02.(Illustration)
March 1, 2003... (Dollars in Millions) (part 1 of 2) Rank Organization Name, Location 1 Washington Mutual, Seattle, WA 2 Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, Des Moines, IA 3 Countrywide Financial Corp., Calabasas, CA ...

Refinancing Accounts for 20% of Economic Growth.
March 1, 2003... Economic growth may seem anemic, but imagine how the economy would look without the refinancing boom that began in early 2001. According to a study commissioned by the Homeownership Alliance, 20% of the real growth in the nation's gross...

Impact of Refinancing on Selected Metropolitan Areas.(Illustration)
March 1, 2003... Boston: $11.6 billion Chicago: $9.1 billion Detroit: $5.2 billion Los Angeles: $13.4 billion Nassau-Suffolk, N.Y.: $5.5 billion New York City: $7.8...

Fairbanks Praised For Conti Work.
March 1, 2003... Fitch Ratings has released a report saying that Fairbanks Capital "has effectively managed and stabilized" the portfolio of loans it took over from the failed ContiMortgage. Fairbanks assumed the servicing of the ContiMortgage portfolio on...

GE's U.K. Deal Brings Subprime To 20 Billion Dollars.(Abbey National Bank)
March 1, 2003... General Electric has finally taken the big plunge into subprime receivables - but overseas, not here. In late February, the European division of GE inked a deal to buy the consumer finance division of Abbey National Bank, London. GE...

MIAC: Servicing Prices Up Slightly after Dismal '02.(Mortgage Industry Advisory Co.)
March 1, 2003... With rates at historic lows and few buyers expressing an interest in mortgage servicing rights, you might be surprised to learn that MSR values actually increased in January. Mortgage Industry Advisory Co., which tracks an index of...

Pressure on G-Fees.(Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac)
March 1, 2003... Do lenders pay too little, or too much, to protect themselves from credit risk on loans sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? After years of absorbing downward pressure on guarantee fees, the government-sponsored enterprises seem to be putting...

HUD Steps Up Credit Watch.(U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development)
March 1, 2003... Mr. Schulman, a frequent speaker at mortgage industry events, is an attorney in the Washington office of Kirkpatrick & Lockhart. This is an excerpt from an article advising lenders about developments in the FHA credit watch program. In an...

Do We Have Two More Great Years Ahead of Us?
March 1, 2003... On most days it feels like this two-year old purchase/refi boom will never end - especially with the equities market sucking wind and military action in Iraq imminent. Yes, as equities go south, bonds rally and interest rates - mortgage...

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Prepayment Speeds Slow Down in January.
March 1, 2003... Prepayment rates for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage-backed securities slowed down in January for most 30-year coupons and vintages, while Ginnie Mae MBS speeds were mixed. The slowdown in constant prepayment rates averaged 2-3 CPR for...

Steering Clear of Risk Has Costs as Well as Benefits.
March 1, 2003... When you examine the 800-pound gorillas of the mortgage industry, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, they look a lot alike. But when it comes to managing interest rate risk, Freddie Mac seems to be the more conservative of the two giants. Fannie...

Lenders Find Terrorism Insurance Backstop Has Shortcomings.(Commercial Mortgage Securities Association)
March 1, 2003... At a "servicers forum" session at the Commercial Mortgage Securities Association's annual CMBS investors conference here, servicers talked about the shortcomings in the recently-passed terrorism backstop legislation. As well, an emerging...

Survey Finds Concern about Real Estate Prices.
March 1, 2003... An investor survey conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers found that while investors continue to pursue well-leased properties in strong markets, they are concerned that industry fundamentals seem to be weakening. Peter Korpacz, director of...

Moody's Says Small Town Blues Affect CMBS Deals.(Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities)
March 1, 2003... The smaller the town, the greater the chance a commercial mortgage loan will become delinquent, according to a Moody's Investors Service study of commercial mortgage-backed securities. In fact, Moody's found that loans from towns too small...

States with the Highest CMBS Delinquencies.(Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities)(Illustration)
March 1, 2003... Tennessee: 5.6% Iowa: 5.3% Louisiana: 4.5% Oregon: 4.1% Ohio: 3.7% New Mexico: 3.5% Copyright 2003 Thomson Media Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Fitch Lowers KMART's Grade On CMBS Classes.(Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities)
March 1, 2003... Six classes in five commercial mortgage-backed security transactions have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings in connection with recently announced Kmart store closings. The downgrades are as follows: Credit Suisse First Boston series...

Industry Wonders How War Might Affect Real Estate.
March 1, 2003... Commercial mortgage delinquencies have held up very well in the current economic downturn, but everyone is now watching on the outcome of a war with Iraq to see what might happen in the future. The possibility of war now appears more likely,...

Study: REIT Performance Diverges from Home Prices.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... A new study done by economist Jack Goodman for the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts rebuts the view that owning a house voids the merits of investing in real estate investment trusts. "The misconception that 'real...

Key Commercial Revamps Business.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Key Commercial Real Estate, a unit of KeyBank National Association, has been renamed KeyBank Real Estate Capital, to better reflect the broader scope of its operations, and some key personnel changes have been made at the commercial real...

Moody's: Tempered Optimism for Commercial Real Estate.
March 1, 2003... All major commercial property types were either stable and in strong condition, or showed slight improvement, based on data gathered through the third quarter of 2002, according to Sally Gordon, the principal author of Moody's Investors...

Roundup: BoA Hotel Deal Gets a Downgrade.
March 1, 2003... The ratings on two classes of Banc of America Large Loan Inc.'s series 2002-FLT1 have been placed on Rating Watch Negative by Fitch Ratings. The affected classes are class H, rated BBB-plus, and class J, rated BBB. The rating actions...

MBA Chief Sees Diversity of Viewpoints as Strength.(Mortgage Bankers of America)
March 1, 2003... When mortgage lenders gather for the MBA's annual national mortgage servicing conference in New Orleans, they may find they have plenty of things to argue about. And that's just fine, according to MBA chairman John Courson. Mr....

German Deal Downgraded.(Westdeutsche Immobilienbank)
March 1, 2003... Moody's Investors Service has downgraded certain of German lender Westdeutsche Immobilienbank's obligations that are secured by notes credit-linked to a pool of commercial mortgages. Moody's office here has downgraded the class A+ and...

Group Praises Jobs Coverage.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... According to the Consumer Credit Insurance Association, involuntary unemployment insurance can save homeowners from foreclosure in tough times. The insurance makes debt payments for insured individuals who lose their jobs through no fault...

Fitch Expects 'Resilience' From RMBS Performance.
March 1, 2003... Fitch Ratings expects the structured finance market to show resilience this year, although some sectors may remain weak. The good news is that the mortgage sector remains the strongest performer in the structured finance marketplace. ...

Bankruptcies Will Test New CMBS Structures.
March 1, 2003... Standard & Poor's is concerned that the legal and structural provisions that some forms of CMBS securitization are built on have never been tested. This means they don't know what could happen in a bankruptcy situation, according to Kim...

Nonperforming Loan Totals Reach 10-Year High at Banks and Thrifts.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Nonperforming loans at the nation's 9,414 banks and thrifts reached $68.9 billion in the third quarter of last year, representing a 16.8% increase from one year earlier, according to Weiss Ratings here. From a historical perspective, Weiss...

California County Auctions Timeshares.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Bid4Assets, an online auction site for assets seized by the government and private lenders, announced that it was auctioning 153 tax-defaulted timeshares for Ventura County, Calif. The auction was held Feb. 13-14 at the company's website,...

BMA Adds Format For CMO Reports.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... The Bond Market Association has reported that it has facilitated the development of a new file format for monthly reporting of payment data for private label collateralized mortgage obligations and asset-backed securities. The association...

Budget Plan Would Reward Subprime FHA Borrowers for Timely Payments.
March 1, 2003... The unveiling of the president's budget for fiscal year 2004 last week provided a few surprises for Federal Housing Administration lenders - including a new loan product that is designed to reach subprime borrowers and reward them for making...

Most Mortgage Insurers Do Well Despite Portfolio Persistency Problem.
March 1, 2003... While the nation's largest mortgage insurer reported a decline in net income between 2001 and 2002, its other three publicly traded competitors all said their net income increased during that time. While refinancing has made it difficult...

Fitch Sees Challenges Growing for Mortgage Insurance Business.
March 1, 2003... Fitch Ratings here has dropped its outlook on the entire private mortgage insurance industry from "Stable" down to "Negative." The rating agency is pessimistic about what it terms "systemic concerns that are challenging the industry's core...

GSEs to Disclose Servicer Name to MBS Investors.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac said that come this spring they will begin making six additional "pool specific" disclosures on the mortgage-backed securities they issue. The two secondary giants announced their new disclosures last month,...

New Freddie Deal Offers Subservicing.
March 1, 2003... The American Bankers Association, whose membership represents 90% of all banking assets in the U.S., has signed a secondary marketing agreement with Freddie Mac. For ABA, it now has agreements with the three largest secondary market...

Fannie's Corporate Governance Praised.(Federal National Mortgage Association)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Fannie Mae has received a corporate governance rating of 9 from Standard & Poor's. The rating system ranges from 1 to 10. The strong rating for the secondary market giant was issued last week, amid attacks on Fannie (and Freddie Mac) from...

Little-Known Investment Banker to Take Reins at OFHEO.(Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, Mark C. Brickell)
March 1, 2003... Investment banker and derivatives expert Mark C. Brickell has been picked by the White House to head the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, the overseer of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. OFHEO director Armando Falcon, a holdover...

Rep. Ney Seeks Override of State Predatory Lending Laws.
March 1, 2003... Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, the new chairman of the House Financial Services subcommittee on housing, plans to make a big push to pass a predatory lending bill that provides consumer protections and pre-empts state predatory lending laws. "Are...

OTS Pre-Empts New York Law.(Office of Thrift Supervision, New York lending law)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... The Office of Thrift Supervision has pre-empted New York state's anti-predatory lending law so that federally chartered thrifts and their operating subsidiaries will not be bound by the state's lending restrictions. "Federal law authorizes...

Legislators Seek 'Fix' for GA Law.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Legislation has been introduced here in both the House and Senate to alleviate some of the misery mortgage funders and investors are feeling from the Georgia Fair Lending Act. Once reconciled into a final bill, language introduced in House...

Consumers Register Discontent With Lenders' Customer Service.
March 1, 2003... If the 2003 J.D. Power and Associates Home Mortgage Study is any sort of guide for mortgage lenders, they need to be forewarned. Their customers are not happy with the service they are receiving. The survey found that only one in 10...

CitiMortgage Gets Top Fitch Rating.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Fitch Ratings has upgraded the residential primary servicer rating for CitiMortgage to 'RPS1' from 'RPS1-minus,' moving the Citigroup subsidiary into the highest category for residential servicer ratings. The rating is based on...

Regions Will Use Alltel MSP.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Alltel, which recently announced it is selling its mortgage division to Fidelity National, is expanding its relationship with Regions Financial Corp. Regions Mortgage will use Alltel's Mortgage Servicing Package of software and integrated...

Data Warehouse Staves Runoff by Finding Prospects before They Refi.
March 1, 2003... The downside of the refi boom has been that servicers don't have borrowers in their portfolio long enough to warm up a spot in their database before another lender snatches them away. But Data Warehouse Corp. here has developed a system it...

Alltel Seeks to Demonstrate Returns from Default Technology.
March 1, 2003... Victoria Yee, product manager in Alltel's default solutions division, believes that mortgage servicers can achieve financial benefits by employing technology to make default management more efficient. But just as importantly, lenders can...

Douglas K. Freeman.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Mr. Freeman, the chief executive of NetBank Inc., Atlanta, has added the job of chairman to his responsibilities. He replaces T. Stephen Johnson. Mr. Freeman was the chief executive of mortgage wholesaler Resource Bancshares Mortgage Group...

Special Report: Assignments, Releases & Title Services.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... For lenders, the last couple of years must feel like they've found the best fishing hole in the lake. They've been reeling in business at a record pace. But that has put a strain on the lien release department for most shops. Most of the...

Cross Country Move Adds Capacity at Nationwide.
March 1, 2003... Nationwide Title Clearing Inc., has moved from the West Coast to the Gulf Coast of Florida. While the big move hasn't changed the company's mission, it has allowed for significant expansion. Senior vice president Jim Stewart said the...

BridgeSpan Expands Texas Processing Center.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... BridgeSpan Inc., a company providing technology and services to the real estate settlement and mortgage closing process, says it will relocate some of its employees to and then hire more for its national processing center here. The...

CFA to Offer Closing and Title Services through Loan Prospector.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... CFA Real Estate Network here has reached an agreement with BCE Emergis to participate as a service provider on their online transaction system, Emergis Vendor Services Exchange. The Emergis exchange is available to more than 14,000 lenders...

U.S. Recording Enables E-Recording of Releases.
March 1, 2003... U.S. Recordings, a provider of recording solutions for over 30 years, announced the introduction of InteleDoc Plus, a software program designed to electronically file documents, thereby reducing recording time and fees between lenders and...

Flood Program Restarted.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Insurance companies resumed processing federal flood insurance applications last month after President George Bush signed a bill that reauthorizes the National Flood Insurance Program for one year. The bill (H.R. 11) retroactively...

California Regulators Approve Reduction in Title Insurance Cost.
March 1, 2003... The California Land Title Association announced that state insurance regulators had approved new pricing for title insurance products that will cut the premiums of a policy to as low as $275 for a refinance or $85 for home equity line...

LandSafe Hits Historic Highs.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... LandSafe Inc. here said it had the best results in the company's history for 2002, whether measured by total revenue, earnings before income taxes or by the total number of orders processed or closed. The company had total revenue of $159...

Safeco FIS Recognizes Nonprofit Leaders.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Deborah Lindholm, pictured second from left, is awarded a check for $5,000 for being selected as one of Safeco Corp.'s 12 national winners of the company's annual Rudy Award, which recognizes extraordinary nonprofit leadership and service to...

Title Reports Complement REM's Menu.
March 1, 2003... Most title searches are done in connection with the origination of a mortgage loan, but one firm has found a niche providing title reports to lenders managing distressed mortgage loans. REM Corp., based in the Chicago area, provides...

Stewart Adds Regional CTOs.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Stewart Information Services has appointed regional chief technology officers in each of its 11 regions to enhance communication and cultivate collaboration throughout its organization. "The most important objective of defining these new...

Fidelity Agrees to Buy Lenders Service, Inc. in Big Title Acquisition.
March 1, 2003... The Alltel deal may have been Fidelity National Financial's biggest headliner of late, but don't forget about LSI. In a deal the parties said would create "the best solution provider in the business," Fidelity National Financial Inc....

PMI Group Places Lender Services in New Subsidiary.
March 1, 2003... The PMI Group Inc. here has created a new subsidiary, PMI Capital Corp., where all of its "diversification" businesses will reside. This includes the company's international mortgage insurance units in Europe, Australia and New Zealand,...

FKNC Appoints New Executives.(Priscilla Capes)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Fort Knox National Co., a provider of electronic payment processing services, has announced several new executive appointments designed to propel revenue growth by enhancing the company's customer-centric business focus. Priscilla Capes...

VA Terminates Vendee Program.
March 1, 2003... The Department of Veterans Affairs halted is "vendee loan" program last month, which was used to finance sales of VA-foreclosed single-family homes. "Effective for all listings on or after Jan. 31, 2003, the VA will no longer offer vendee...

Servicing People.
March 1, 2003... CALIFORNIA Los Angeles-Richard Hart and Kevin Wieland have joined Legg Mason Real Estate Investors Inc. as principals in the firm's Los Angeles office. Messrs. Hart and Wieland will be responsible for originating new investments for the...

Top Subservicers at 12/31/02.(Illustration)
March 1, 2003... (Dollars in Millions) (part 1 of 2) Rank Organization Name Location 1 Dovenmuehle Mortgage (E) Schaumburg, IL 2 Wells Fargo Home Mortgage Des Moines, IA 3 ...