Mortgage Servicing News articles from March 2007

Mortgage Servicing News archives from March 2007

MSR Values Stabilize.
March 1, 2007... NEW YORK -- The value of mortgage servicing rights was fairly flat in the fourth quarter of last year, but as rates edged up in the early weeks of 2007, the servicing industry looked poised for strong financial gains in the first quarter. ...

Subprime Servicers - What Their Portfolios Might Be Worth.(Statistical table)
March 1, 2007... (Dollars in Millions) Ser. Vol. Port. Value Port. Value Rank Organization Location 9/30/06 at 100 BPs at 150 BPs 1 Countrywide Financial Corp. Calabasas,...

MLN Goes Belly Up.(Mortgage Lenders Network bankrupt)
March 1, 2007... MIDDLETOWN, CT -- Mortgage Lenders Network here, a $17 billion servicer of mostly subprime loans, filed for bankruptcy protection in early February, owing unsecured creditors $92 million. As Mortgage Servicing News went to press, the...

HSBC Ups Reserve to $10.6 Billion.
March 1, 2007... WASHINGTON -- Stung by losses and anticipated writedowns on adjustable-rate second-lien subprime loans, HSBC Holdings in February increased the bad debt reserve on its B&C unit to $10.6 billion, a stunning 125% increase from its Sept. 30, 2006...

Rating Agency Turns Cautious.
March 1, 2007... NEW YORK -- Standard & Poor's said it is examining the credit enhancement requirements, cash-flow assumptions and "possible revisions to its LEVELS and SPIRE models," given that reports about early payment defaults on 2006 U.S. RMBS vintage for...

Top Commercial Servicers at September 30, 2006.(Statistical table)
March 1, 2007... (Dollars in Millions) 3Q '06 3Q '05 % Market Organization Location Vol. Vol. Change Share GMAC Commercial (E) Horsham, PA...

Katrina Renewal Gets Underway.
March 1, 2007... WASHINGTON -- It looks like the Louisiana Road Home program is finally going to get some money into the hands of citizens who want to rebuild and repair their homes that were damaged by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. That should be welcome...

ABN Amro Acquisition Moves Citi up Rankings.
March 1, 2007... ANN ARBOR -- Citigroup has agreed to purchase ABN Amro Mortgage Group here for an undisclosed sum, a purchase that will make it the nation's fourth largest residential servicer with $728 billion in receivables. The sale effectively removes AAMG...

AMCORE Sells MSR Portfolio.(mortgage servicing rights)(AMCORE Financial )(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... ROCKFORD, IL -- AMCORE Financial here is in the process of selling its originated mortgage servicing rights in a move the company says will better position it to grow its mortgage origination business and stabilize mortgage earnings through...

Wells Fargo's Servicing Fees Top $1 billion in 4Q.
March 1, 2007... SAN FRANCISCO -- Wells Fargo & Co. kept is earnings growth streak alive in 2006, but with little help from the company's mortgage unit in the fourth quarter. The mortgage unit weakness came in spite of Wells posting more than $1 billion in...

Editorial: Housing Glut a Risk.(Editorial)
March 1, 2007... If you think concerns about the slowing housing market are overblown, you might want to take a quick trip to Miami. Publications and other media - including MSN - have been acting like town scolds recently, hyping statistics about rising...

Point of View: Lending Abuses Threaten To Spark More Defaults.(Excerpt)
March 1, 2007... Mr. Eakes is the CEO of the Center for Responsible Lending, a consumer advocacy organization that has called for a "suitability standard" in mortgage lending. While many in the industry disagree with the Center's policy proposals, we thought...

The B&C Meltdown: It's All About Capital.(building and construction)(Column)
March 1, 2007... Another month and another column about the subprime meltdown. As Mortgage Servicing News went to press this month, a tidal wave of bad news was sweeping the B&C or "nonprime" industry. Here's the unhappy recap: Mortgage Lenders Network of...

Prepay Rates Slow Modestly Despite Rate Dip: 'Over the last few weeks, the complexion of the mortgage market has changed significantly.'.
March 1, 2007... The speeds of 30-year mortgages in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage-backed securities fell modestly in January, driven by a seasonal decline in turnover that offset a 15-basis-point rally in mortgage rates, according to the Bear Stearns...

FHA Expects Single-Family to Lose Money Next Year.
March 1, 2007... WASHINGTON -- The Federal Housing Administration single-family mortgage program is projected to incur a loss next year - the first time in the program's 70-year history - due to rising defaults and declining originations. Budget proposals...

...But GAO Sees Better Risk Profile.(General Accountability Office)(government programs discontinued)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... WASHINGTON -- After 13 years, the General Accountability Office has finally removed the Federal Housing Administration single-family insurance program for its list of "high risk" government programs, citing the FHA's improved oversight of...

Terror, Windstorm Coverage Highlight Risks.
March 1, 2007... Insurance issues have been at the forefront for some time now, starting off with terrorism-related insurance in 2001, and windstorm insurance has come to the fore more recently. The industry is looking toward the extension of the Terrorism Risk...

A Pretty Quiet Quarter, by Some Standards.(Wells Fargo, Countrywide Financial Corp. and IndyMac, financial statements)
March 1, 2007... Garrison Keillor likes to begin his "news from Lake Woebegone" segment by telling people that it's been a quiet week in the fictional Midwestern small town. Then he gets into the entertaining details. After reviewing fourth-quarter and...

Terwin Buys Hanover's Due Diligence Business.(Hanover Capital Mortgage Holdings, Terwin Acquisitions)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... EDISON, NJ -- Hanover Capital Mortgage Holdings here has sold its due diligence assets to Terwin Acquisitions, which does business as The Winter Group. With the sale of assets from its Hanover Capital Partners 2 division, Hanover said it...

ICBA Adds Servicing Option.
March 1, 2007... WASHINGTON -- The Independent Community Bankers of America has teamed up with wholesaler Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp. to give its member banks an option to sell their loans servicing-released and achieve better pricing and service for...

REOTrans Plans To Keep Growing.(new office in Los Angeles)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... LOS ANGELES -- REOTrans here has expanded its corporate office here, creating ergonomic office environments that will double their existing office space to enable growth. The company also said it is conducting a full-scale recruiting...

Flagstar Sells Servicing Rights.
March 1, 2007... TROY, MI -- Flagstar Bancorp here faced plenty of headwinds that held back earnings in the last year, but a gain from the sale of mortgage servicing rights helped offset some of the problems. Still, Flagstar posted fourth-quarter earnings...

New Subservicer Rating Assesses Spectrum of Loan Types.
March 1, 2007... NEW YORK -- GMAC Mortgage, the nation's second largest subservicer of home loans, has received Fitch Ratings first "subservicer rating" and the company got the top grade of "RPS1" from Fitch. So what is a subservicer rating and how is it...

ResCap Closing Servicing Sites.
March 1, 2007... MINNEAPOLIS -- Citing declining originations and an ailing subprime market, Residential Capital Corp. plans to slash 1,000 positions at its GMAC mortgage affiliates over the next nine months, according to a new public filing. As part of...

Rising Delinquencies Spur Demand for Default Skills.
March 1, 2007... NEW YORK -- With many subprime mortgage shops closing their doors in recent months, it would seem that finding a job in the sector might pose a challenge. But most of the jobs being cut are in the origination sector and the challenges...

BancorpSouth Sees $4M Charge.(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... TUPELO, MS -- BancorpSouth earned $1.57 per diluted share last year, up 6.8% from 2005, despite taking a modest impairment charge in the fourth quarter. BancorpSouth said the pretax, negative impact from a decline in the value of its...

Radian Performs Best among MI Firms in 4th Quarter.
March 1, 2007... NEW YORK -- Of the three publicly traded holding companies whose main business is private mortgage insurance, only Radian has topped consensus earnings estimates. MGIC came in above Friedman Billings Ramsey's own estimate but below...

Defaults Continue to Outpace Cures in MI Sector.
March 1, 2007... WASHINGTON -- Private mortgage insurers did $252.1 billion of primary new insurance in 2006, down slightly from production in 2004 and 2005. The industry also reported that new defaults substantially outpaced cures during 2006. Members of...

Home Equity Strong Despite Rise in Overdues at Irwin.
March 1, 2007... COLUMBUS, IN -- Irwin Financial Corp. saw improved fourth-quarter results for its home-equity segment from the previous quarter, although a slight deterioration in consumer mortgage credit quality. The home-equity segment earned $1.2...

NCEN Gets Irwin's Shop.
March 1, 2007... IRVINE, CA -- New Century Financial Corp. has closed on its purchase of Irwin Mortgage Corp.'s mortgage servicing shop, the company said in early January. New Century said it had completed the purchase of certain assets and the assumption...

Astoria Faces Impairment.
March 1, 2007... LAKE SUCCESS, NY -- Astoria Financial Corp. here earned net income of $37.1 million in the fourth quarter, down from $57.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2005, and impairment to the company's mortgage servicing rights factored into the...

AHM Sees Higher Delinquencies.
March 1, 2007... MELVILLE, NY -- Despite seeing a rise in delinquencies during the period, American Home Mortgage Investment Corp. saw its earnings soar during the fourth quarter of 2006. The company said that revenue for the fourth quarter of 2006 was $257.7...

Regions Takes MSR Charge.
March 1, 2007... BIRMINGHAM, AL -- In what has generally been a quiet earnings season for mortgage servicing rights, Regions Financial recorded impairment to the value of its MSRs during the fourth quarter. During the fourth quarter of last year, Regions...

A Day in the Life of an Asset Manager: Changing markets have meant an increased workload for all in the industry, which keeps asset managers moving.
March 1, 2007... Organization and multitasking! These are commonly associated with asset managers, who must keep up with the daily rush of responsibilities in the fast-paced business of REO property management. Many REO asset managers like Maureen Burns of...

Government Accountability Office Study Looks at Defaults: 'How many good things have you gotten from somebody calling you on the phone?'.
March 1, 2007... WASHINGTON -- Three major trade groups are trying to convince at least one law maker to ask the Government Accountability Office to look into the causes of what is supposedly a marked increase in foreclosures. Historically, the main reasons...

Bust for Subprime Loans?: CRL said foreclosures could eventually cost consumers $164 billion in 'lost home equity.'.
March 1, 2007... WASHINGTON -- Almost 20% of all subprime loans funded over the past two years will wind up in foreclosure, according to a new report issued by the Center for Responsible Lending. CRL president Mike Calhoun said that when refinancings of...

HE Delinquency Rates Mixed.
March 1, 2007... WASHINGTON -- The delinquency rate on home-equity loans declined in the third quarter, while the overdue rate on home-equity lines of credit increased slightly, according to the American Bankers Association. The ABA survey found that 1.79%...

New Legislation Tackles Foreclosures.
March 1, 2007... WASHINGTON -- The new Senate Banking Committee chairman is working on legislation to address a potential wave of foreclosures and to assist families who are in danger of losing their homes. Citing a recent study by a consumer advocacy...

Williams & Williams Launches Direct-to-Consumer Program: The buyer knows exactly what he or she is paying for, and the seller learns what a property is actually worth.
March 1, 2007... TULSA, OK -- In the real estate market, foreclosure is an increasing problem. As a means of offering an alternative to foreclosure and a way for borrowers to avoid loss of equity and creditworthiness, as well as help lenders avoid financial...

Bear Stearns 2007 Outlook Cautions RMBS Performance.
March 1, 2007... NEW YORK -- There has been a lot of talk about the risk layering seen in the underwriting of loan originations in recent years and how it has changed the dynamic of the market. And at its recent "Mortgage and Structured Products Conference:...

RealtyTrac '06 Report: CO, GA and NV Post Highest Rates.
March 1, 2007... According to RealtyTrac's 2006 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, 1.2 million foreclosure filings were reported nationwide during the year, up 42% from 2005 and a foreclosure rate of one foreclosure filing for every 92 U.S. households. "While...

Credit Modeling Tool to Aid Default and Prepay Analysis.(Loan Dynamics Model)
March 1, 2007... NEW YORK -- Andrew Davidson & Co. Inc. has launched "Loan Dynamics Model," a credit valuation tool designed to project delinquency, default, loss severity and prepayment on non-agency mortgage loans, the fixed-income risk analytics provider...

Delinquencies Based on Unpaid Principal Balance at 12/31/06 (Sample).
March 1, 2007... (Dollars in Millions) % % % % Servicing Past 30-59 60-89 90+ Fore # Organization Name Location Volume Due days days...

Firm Reports Rise In Foreclosures.
March 1, 2007... IRVINE, CA -- More than 100,000 entered the foreclosure process during each of the last five months of 2006, according to RealtyTrac, an online marketplace for foreclosed property. The firm reported that 109,692 properties nationwide...

Popular Inc. Sees Subprime Slump in 2006: 'This has not been a good year, primarily because of the performance of our nonprime mortgage operations.'.
March 1, 2007... SAN JUAN, PR -- Because of the performance of its subprime mortgage operations, 2006 was not a good year for Popular Inc., according to its year-end and fourth-quarter earnings. Mortgage loans net charge-offs as a percentage of average...

Fitch Affirms SLS' Ratings.(Fitch Ratings, Specialized Loan Servicing)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... NEW YORK -- Fitch Ratings has affirmed Specialized Loan Servicing's primary residential servicer ratings for alt-A, subprime and home-equity line of credit products at an "RPS3" rating. Fitch also affirmed the company's special servicer rating...

Five Tips On How Short Sales Could Preserve Homeownership.
March 1, 2007... The real estate marketplace has undergone dramatic change in recent months. The exuberant seller's market of the past year has transitioned into a more moderate buyer's market, leaving in its wake an expected $1 trillion of adjustable rate...

Industry's Technology Spending at All-Time High.
March 1, 2007... TEMPE, AZ -- The lending community realizes the benefit of automating in a down market as technology spending is at record highs, according to research shared by Jordan Brown, chief executive officer at consulting firm MarketWise Advisors, at...

Reperforming Deal Suffers.
March 1, 2007... NEW YORK -- Two certificates from Reperforming Loan REMIC Trust Certificates series 2003-R4 have been downgraded by Moody's Investors Service. Class B-3 was downgraded from Ba2 to B2, and class B-4 was downgraded from B2 to Ca. Moody's...

Florida Moves to Ease Homeowners' Insurance Premiums.
March 1, 2007... SEATTLE -- In a special session summoned to confront the state's insurance crisis in January, Florida lawmakers imposed new regulations on insurers and expanded the state's role in shouldering real estate risks that private insurers won't...

FL Title Firm Sees Slowdown.(Florida)(2007 Real Estate Index Forecast )(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... ORLANDO, FL -- A new report released by Attorneys' Title Insurance Fund here finds that Florida's housing markets slowed in 2006 in nearly every geographic region. The report also shows that Florida's economy has downshifted from a period of...

MGIC and Radian Combo Will Control 38% of MI Market.
March 1, 2007... MILWAUKEE -- The proposed merger of MGIC Investment Corp. here and Radian Group would create a combined unit that holds 38% of mortgage insurance in force. The terms of the transaction call for MGIC to exchange 0.9658 shares of its common...

MBA: Suitability Rule Would Set Industry Back Decades.(Mortgage Bankers Association)
March 1, 2007... LOS ANGELES -- A legislatively imposed suitability test "would set fair lending back 25 years," according to the chairman of the Mortgage Bankers Association, which is advancing the idea of a "simple, plain English" disclosure form as an...

Litton Obtains MH Rating.
March 1, 2007... NEW YORK -- Moody's Investors Service has assigned a manufactured housing loan servicer rating of "SQ2-" to Litton Loan Servicing, a subsidiary of Credit-Based Asset Servicing and Securitization. Moody's said the rating reflects above-average...

Resets Keep Refi Volume High.
March 1, 2007... WASHINGTON -- With long-term interest rates continuing to slip, it's no surprise that refinancing volume is once again on the upswing. Earlier this year, evidence of elevated refinancing continued to crop up in the Mortgage Bankers...

Buybacks Sink Ownit Mortgage.
March 1, 2007... LOS ANGELES -- After closing its doors almost a month ago, subprime lender Ownit Mortgage Solutions filed for bankruptcy protection in late December, saying it did not have enough cash to buy back $166 million in delinquent loans. In the...

Asset Valuation.(housing)
March 1, 2007... When home values were surging upward, the accuracy of appraisals and AVMs was perhaps not the highest priority in the industry. In most cases, if an estimate of a home's value was a little optimistic, the market would quickly erase the error...

AVM Providers Seek New Distribution Channels.
March 1, 2007... New York -- As lenders move to be more efficient, appraisers and automated valuation model vendors are answering the call. These outfits are aggressively moving to distribute their products more seamlessly and on a national scale to lenders...

Program Tailors Appraisal Option.(ValuFinders, Inc. introduces Appraisal CONCIERGE)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... NEW YORK -- The appraisal process has remained very paper and labor intensive. In a down market, the need to automate even paper appraisals is imperative in shrinking cycle times and cutting costs. Companies like Culver City, Calif.-based...

Servicing People.
March 1, 2007... CALIFORNIA San Mateo-Remend Inc. said that Mike Toth has joined the company as vice president of sales. Mr. Toth brings a sales background that includes over 25 years of account sales experience at the national level and working with...

SEC Guidance Eases Reg AB: 'Millions of dollars of annual reporting costs will be saved.'.
March 1, 2007... NEW YORK -- Mortgage securitization market participants can avoid paying millions of dollars of audit attestation fees and the burden of compiling reports from hundreds of vendors thanks to a Feb. 2 Securities and Exchange Commission move made...