Mortgage Servicing News articles from March 2006

Mortgage Servicing News archives from March 2006

Accounting Rule Cheers Servicers.(accounting services)
March 1, 2006... Washington -- Some servicers are counting the days until they can kiss Financial Accounting Standard 133 goodbye and elect fair value accounting for mortgage servicing rights. The Financial Accounting Standards Board is very close to...

CFC Sees Servicing Gain.(mortgage banks)
March 1, 2006... Calabasas, CA -- Mortgage servicing played a big part in Countrywide's year-end 2005 results, helping to offset the impact of lower loan production margins. In the fourth quarter, Countrywide reported pretax earnings of $306 million from...

How Much of an 'Asset' is Servicing? A Few Mortgage Giants Tell Us.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2006... (Dollars in Millions) Company Asset Value of Serv. Residential Serv. Value Name Rights at 12/31/05 Servicing Portfolio in basis pts. Countrywide $12,610 $1,111,090 ...

Citi Buys Bulk MSRs.(Citigroup purchases mortgage banks)
March 1, 2006... Washington -- Citigroup has agreed to purchase $19 billion in residential servicing rights from Waterfield Mortgage, Ft. Wayne, Ind., investment banking officials told Mortgage Servicing News. The sale is part of Waterfield's plan to exit...

Reforms Could Backfire.(bankruptcy reforms)
March 1, 2006... New York -- The bankruptcy reforms enacted last October were backed nearly unanimously by creditors, including the mortgage industry, but now some experts see a possible dark cloud on the horizon for mortgage lenders. By making it more...

Residential Servicers at December 31, 2005 (Sample).(mortgage banks)(Illustration)
March 1, 2006... (dollars in millions) Servicing Volume % Rank Organization Name Location 12/31/05 12/31/04 Change 1 America First CU Riverdale, UT $865 $814 ...

MERS Wins a Key Lawsuit Against County in New York.(regulations)
March 1, 2006... McLean, VA -- In a nod to the legitimacy of MERS, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York on Dec. 19, 2005 issued a unanimous 4-0 decision that requires county clerks to record all mortgages, assignments and discharges naming...

MGIC Promotes Sinks To President and COO.(appointments)(Chief Operating Officers)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2006... Milwaukee -- MGIC Investment Corp. here has named Patrick Sinks as its new president and chief operating officer. Curt Culver will remain with the company as chairman and chief executive. Most recently Mr. Sinks was the executive vice...

Fed Governor: Exotic Loans Not a 'Huge' Concern.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2006... Washington -- Residential funders have been making "stated income" mortgages for years, but the Federal Reserve is starting to have concerns about banks that originate loans without the borrower providing proof of income. Speaking at an...

Lehman Cuts Jobs At Aurora and BNC.
March 1, 2006... New York -- Lehman Brothers has trimmed roughly 300 workers from two of its nonprime mortgage affiliates - Aurora Loan Services of Colorado, and BNC Mortgage, Irvine, Calif., industry officials confirmed to Mortgage Servicing News. The...

Payment-Options ARMs - Friend or Foe?(Adjustable Rate Mortgages)
March 1, 2006... Payment-option ARMs have garnered a ton of negative publicity in the consumer press because of the risk these instruments allegedly pose to consumers. Some firms, such as Chase Home Finance, refuse to originate POAs, citing not only the moral...

Analysts See Refinancing Rate Slowing Down.(mortgage backed securities)
March 1, 2006... Several prepayment trends in the discount mortgage-backed securities sector are likely to reverse in the coming months as the housing sector continues to cool down, according to Bear Stearns & Co. Writing in the February issue of...

Long-Term Forecast Also Sees Lower Prepay Volume.
March 1, 2006... Washington -- MBA chief economist Douglas Duncan said in the association's recent long-term economic forecast that core inflation is likely to edge higher this year, but that it will remain contained. Still, the MBA expects mortgage rates...

Lenders Defend Role They Play in Making Sure Borrowers Have Flood Coverage.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2006... Washington -- Lenders are not lax in making sure borrowers get flood insurance when buying or financing a home in a flood plain, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. MBA chair Regina Lowrie told the Senate Banking Committee last...

LandAmerica Lender Services Introduces New Tax Service.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2006... Richmond, VA -- LandAmerica Financial Group, a provider of real estate transaction services, has introduced Total Tax Solutions, a customized real estate tax processing system for mortgage lenders. The new system integrates tax service data...

First American Fosters Offshore Outsourcing.(J. Gregory Harrington joins First American International Services Group)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2006... Santa Ana, CA -- The First American Corp., the nation's largest data provider, has named J. Gregory Harrington as president of First American International Services Group. First American International Services Group is a new division...

ABN Amro Ranks High with Its Customers.
March 1, 2006... Ann Arbor, MI -- ABN Amro Mortgage Group Inc. here is crediting its employees for its top ranking among 13 national lenders by JD Power and Associates. The 2005 Primary Mortgage Origination Study measured satisfaction among nearly 4,500...

Informative Research Celebrates 60 Years as Credit Reporting Firm.(Brief Article)(Company Profile)
March 1, 2006... Garden Grove, CA -- Informative Research, an independent mortgage credit reporting agency, celebrates 60 years of mortgage credit reporting in 2006. Informative Research was founded in 1946 to provide research services aimed at reducing the...

Bankruptcy Blip Hits Bank of America.
March 1, 2006... Charlotte, NC -- Despite reaching an earnings record for last year, Bank of America saw its fourth-quarter results clipped by a surge in bankruptcies. Like other big banks, Bank of America said the implementation of new bankruptcy laws in...

Citigroup Cites Higher Servicing Revenue.
March 1, 2006... New York -- Citigroup, the nation's largest bank holding company, said that its fourth-quarter earnings grew 30% from a year earlier, despite a decline in income from its consumer group. Still, the company saw improved home loan servicing...

Hedging Challenges Lie Ahead at WaMu.(Washington Mutual)
March 1, 2006... A flat yield curve is doing more than just creating headaches for portfolio lenders. It is also posing challenges to companies that hedge their mortgage servicing rights. Chief among those companies is Washington Mutual, one of the...

National E-Notary Standards in Progress.(mortgage banks)
March 1, 2006... Philadelphia -- During the mortgage process there are several documents that have to be notarized. GTE Federal Credit Union told NMN that this is the main hindrance of electronic mortgage adoption, but Pennsylvania has moved to change the...

TrueClose Offers New Customer Relationship Module.(TrueClose)
March 1, 2006... Canonsburg, PA -- Loan processing is typically a time-consuming, tedious process that involves a large amount of paper pushing. TrueClose here hopes to change that with version 1.6, as processors no longer have to manage physical paper files,...

Flat Yield Curve May Augur Opportunity for GSEs.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2006... Washington -- Freddie Mac sees a flat yield curve as a great opportunity to expand its mortgage-backed securitization business and invest in fixed-rate mortgages for its portfolio. A flattening of the yield curve "plays to our traditional...

Two HE Lenders Hear M&A Rumors.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2006... New York -- Subprime lender Accredited Home Loans of San Diego has seen its share price rise 20 points since late fall, fueling speculation the company might be for sale. A spokesman for Accredited said the lender is not on the market,...

Rates a Big Factor in Real Estate Prospects This Year.
March 1, 2006... New York -- As the real estate sector continued to hold investor interest, REITs turned in a total return of 8.3% for 2005, going by the NAREIT Composite Index, outperforming other market benchmarks for the sixth year in a row. For 2006,...

Debt Is Still Plentiful for Commercial Property Investment.
March 1, 2006... New York -- Vacancy rates in office markets nationwide continue to decline, while debt and equity capital continue to flow into the commercial real estate sector, according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers fourth-quarter 2005 real estate investor...

Real Estate Overseas Could Affect U.S. Market.
March 1, 2006... Commercial real estate markets are likely to continue to benefit this year as good economic growth is accompanied by declining vacancies for different property types. That likely means fewer delinquencies for servicers to deal with. Two...

Commercial Mortgages Approach a Record Best Not Broken.
March 1, 2006... New York -- Commercial mortgage loans now represent a record 15% of gross domestic product, and this record is likely to be broken soon, causing concern for Moody's Investors Service. The credit rating agency reports that the 15% peak was...

MuniMae Shrinks Company Workforce in Reorganization.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2006... Baltimore -- MuniMae, a multifamily lender and investment manager, has reorganized the company, resulting in an 8% reduction in its workforce. The company now has two major business groups, MuniMae said - affordable housing, and real...

NACM Survey Sees Weakening of Credit Conditions.(National Association of Credit Management)
March 1, 2006... Columbia, MD -- A survey of credit professionals showed a "worrisome" downward trend in sentiment in January, according to the National Association of Credit Management. While the index continues to suggest that the economy is reasonably...

Credit Reporting Firm to Pay Fine in Data Accuracy Dispute.
March 1, 2006... Washington -- Consumer reporting agency Far West Credit Inc. in Salt Lake City will pay $120,000 to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that the company violated federal law when it did not follow reasonable procedures to assure the...

FHA To See Risk Pricing.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2006... Washington -- A legislative proposal that would allow the Federal Housing Administration to use risk-based pricing is expected to be included in the president's fiscal year 2007 budget. The proposal would authorize the FHA to adjust mortgage...

Bush Administration Shuns Proposed Katrina Agency.(environmental aspects in mortgages)
March 1, 2006... Washington -- The Bush administration will not support the creation of a new government corporation to finance and oversee the reconstruction of New Orleans and other parts of Louisiana hit hard by Hurricane Katrina. The decision came as a...

Americorp Hires GMAC for Interim Servicing of Home Loans.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2006... Horsham, PA -- GMAC Mortgage Corp. will handle interim subservicing for Americorp Credit Corp.'s first mortgages and closed-end second mortgages. "Americorp chose GMAC Mortgage because of our strong reputation in the subservicing...

Fitch: No Rating Change for EMC.(mortgage banks)(EMC Mortgage Corp)
March 1, 2006... New York -- Fitch Ratings said the opening of an FTC investigation into EMC Mortgage Corp., the loan servicing unit of Bear Stearns, is not sufficient cause to initiate a rating action at this time. Earlier, Standard & Poor's put its "above...

Servicers Ranked by Number of Loans Serviced at 12/31/05 (Sample).(Illustration)
March 1, 2006... Number of Loans Serviced % Rank Organization Name Location 12/31/05 12/31/04 change 1 America First CU Riverdale, UT 8,028 7,841 2% 2 American Home Mtg. Investment Melville, NY 158,281...

REO & Foreclosure Management.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2006... With moratoriums on foreclosure starting to expire in the region affected by Hurricane Katrina, lenders are preparing to move into uncharted territory. How do you respond to a catastrophe on such a broad scale that affects hundreds of thousands...

DRI Sees Technology Adding Scale to Default Management.(DRI Management Systems)(economic forecasting)
March 1, 2006... Newport Beach, CA -- While economists are generally optimistic about the pace of economic growth this year, some who follow the housing market still expect to see an increase in mortgage defaults. Rising interest rates, the proliferation of...

C-Bass Does $457 Million REMIC.(Credit-Based Asset Servicing and Securitization L.L.C.)
March 1, 2006... New York -- C-BASS, which specializes in servicing and securitizing credit sensitive residential mortgages, recently closed on a transaction backed by approximately $500,000,000 of residential mortgage collateral. Merrill Lynch & Co. and...

C-Bass Veteran Launches New Merchant Bank.(Tony Ettinger)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2006... New York -- Tony Ettinger, a founder of the specialty finance firms C-BASS and Sherman Financial, has launched a new company. The company, Credit Based Capital, is a merchant bank that specializes in credit-based businesses. He will serve as...

Defaults on the Rise as Pacific Coast Housing Starts to Cool.
March 1, 2006... Sacramento-Pacific Coast housing markets were slowing, with price declines in some formerly hot markets in California, and that foreclosure activity was poised to increase. Because in the gradual shift in the market towards a buyer's market in...

AFN and CourthouseDirect Offer Online Records.(American Legal and Financial Network)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2006... St. Louis -- The American Legal and Financial Network, a nonprofit organization, offering legal, collateral product services and technology solutions to the financial and real estate industries, has formed an affinity relationship with...

Attorneys Win Recognition.(Godlbeck McCafferty & McKeever and Stephens, Millirons, Harrison & Gammons receives award)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2006... St. Louis -- The American Legal and Financial Network said two member firms recently received awards at the recent mortgage services attorneys summit in Anaheim, Calif. AMC Mortgage Services, formerly Ameriquest Mortgage Corp., presented...

New Century Deal Sees Deterioration.
March 1, 2006... New York -- Class B3 of CWMBS (IndyMac) Inc. mortgage pass-through certificates, series 2000-H (RAST 2000-A8), has been downgraded from B to CCC by Fitch Ratings. In addition, the ratings on six classes in three CWMBS (IndyMac) deals were...

Bleak Outlook for Bad Loans Plagues Midwest.
March 1, 2006... Detroit -- The future for the Midwest doesn't look too bright as industry insiders forecast a likely rise in 2006 foreclosures for the economically challenged region and the rest of the United States. Michigan is among states in the Midwest...

Servicing People.(Bonnie Kerivan joins ResMAE Mortgage Corp)(Rob Katz joins Del Mar Database )(Janice Askew joins TrueClose LLC )
March 1, 2006... CALIFORNIA Brea-ResMAE Mortgage Corp. has named Bonnie Kerivan as senior vice president, chief credit officer. Ms. Kerivan initially joined ResMAE in November 2002 as senior vice president, risk management. She will oversee the...