Mortgage Servicing News articles from March 2008

Mortgage Servicing News archives from March 2008

AGs Say 70% Don't Get Help.
March 1, 2008... Washington -- A task force convened by 11 state attorneys general claims that seven out of 10 seriously delinquent home mortgage borrowers "are not on track for any loss mitigation option." While praising the loan servicing industry for...

Refinancing Starting to Boom.
March 1, 2008... St. Louis -- The recent drop in interest rates combined with relatively low home prices has driven up mortgage refinance applications in many markets across the country. And for the last several weeks, lenders have seen spikes in refis. ...

Selected 30-Year Fixed-Rate Prepayments.
March 1, 2008... (For December Period) Cpn Year WAC Fctr Dec07 Nov07 Fannie Mae 6.00 2007 6.57 .969 10.0 5.6 Fannie Mae 6.00 2006 6.55 .842 12.7 9.3 Fannie Mae 6.00 2003 6.46 .277 10.2...

Buyer Found for Option One?
March 1, 2008... Kansas City, MO -- H&R Block here has found a buyer for the $61 billion subprime servicing portfolio of its Option One Mortgage Corp. unit, according to investment banking sources. At press time, it was unclear which bidder had won the...

ResCap Still a Burden for GMAC.
March 1, 2008... New York -- A big loss at subsidiary Residential Capital, which has been pummeled by the subprime mortgage crisis, pushed GMAC Financial Services into the red for the fourth quarter of 2007. GMAC attributed its $724 million fourth-quarter loss...

Rejections a Question as Refi Volume Rises.
March 1, 2008... Washington -- Expectations are growing that the Federal Reserve's rate cuts have set the stage for a refinancing boom that could bolster struggling mortgage companies and help a lot of borrowers get into safer and lower-cost mortgages. ...

Clayton Granted Immunity in New York AG Probe.
March 1, 2008... Washington -- New York attorney general Andrew Cuomo has granted Clayton Holdings immunity from prosecution in exchange for providing information on the due diligence work it conducted for Wall Street firms that securitized subprime mortgages...

Clayton, Experian Create an Alliance.
March 1, 2008... Shelton, CT -- Clayton Holdings, a provider of due diligence, surveillance and special servicing for Wall Street, banks and investors, has entered an agreement with Experian, a global information services company, to provide analytics and...

Editorial: Ignorance Is Not Bliss.(Editorial)
March 1, 2008... Servicers are facing a vortex of woes these days. Poorly underwritten loans are heading toward default, public sympathy is on the side of borrowers, and too few of them know what servicers can do to help them avoid foreclosure. Most defaulted...

Point of View: Opportunities Shift For Mortgage Execs.
March 1, 2008... Mr. Glass has served the mortgage banking industry since 1983. Before opening his own firm, specializing in nonprime mortgage sector executive search, he led the mortgage division of the nation's largest executive search firm. Today's...

MortgageKeeper Adds New Counseling Tool.
March 1, 2008... Ithaca, NY -- Mortgage Keeper Referral Services here has expanded its tool to help lenders and homeowners who are struggling against foreclosure. MortgageKeeper.org is a Web-based servicing tool that gives collection and loss mitigation...

ACORN Pushing Servicers to Extend Loss Mitigation.
March 1, 2008... Calabasas -- Countrywide Financial Corporation and a consumer advocacy group, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, have reached a deal to extend their efforts to help delinquent, subprime borrowers retain their homes. ...

Prepayment Speeds Surge in December.
March 1, 2008... Prepayment rates for 30-year mortgage loans in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage-backed securities rose 13% in December, according to the Bear Stearns Prepayment Commentary. The aggregate speed of 30-year Fannie Maes stood at a constant...

MM&E Exits Exchange.
March 1, 2008... Baltimore -- Municipal Mortgage & Equity, a multifamily lender and investment manager, said that it will not be traded on the New York Stock Exchange after Feb. 6. After that date the stock will be traded on the over-the-counter market....

Fidelity Releases Web-Based Loan Workout Tool.(Fidelity National Information Solutions Inc.)
March 1, 2008... Jacksonville, FL -- With a universal mandate to work out thousands of loans, lenders are desperately looking to technology for help. Fidelity National Information Services Inc. has built a new Web-based loan-modification and...

Tech Can Help In Tough Market.(impact of technology on financial services)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... Orlando, FL -- As more and more lenders shut their doors and overall volume slips, there is light at the end of the tunnel. Several panelists at the 11th Annual SourceMedia Mortgage Technology Conference here shared concrete strategies that can...

Downey Faces Accounting Issue on Modifications.
March 1, 2008... New York -- Downey Financial Corp. will have to treat home loan modifications as a "troubled debt restructuring" under accounting rules as the result of an interpretation change by its auditors, KPMG, the company said. The change involves...

MFA Raising Funds For ARM Investments.
March 1, 2008... New York -- MFA Mortgage Investments has priced a public offering of 25 million shares of common stock at $9.25 per share, for estimated gross proceeds of $231.3 million. MFA also granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to...

Gregory Tornquist.
March 1, 2008... Mr. Tornquist, president of Cenlar FSB, Ewing, N.J., was named chief executive officer in addition to retaining the title of president of Cenlar FSB and president of Cenlar Capital Corp. Since joining Cenlar in 1987, he has played a lead role...

BoA to Close Countrywide Purchase Deal in '08.
March 1, 2008... Charlotte, NC -- Bank of America chief executive Kenneth Lewis said recently that he expects his company's purchase of the troubled Countrywide Financial Corp. to close some time in the second half. Over the past few weeks there has been...

BoA Strengthens Market Presence.
March 1, 2008... New York -- Some on Wall Street still question whether or not Bank of America's deal to buy troubled Countrywide Financial Corp. will close as planned, but BoA's top executive remains enthusiastic about the transaction. Kenneth Lewis,...

Flagstar Bank Sees Loss on Lower Servicing Sales.
March 1, 2008... Troy, MI -- Flagstar Bancorp, which has often profited handsomely from the sale of mortgage servicing rights, couldn't rely on that asset to reverse negative mortgage trends in 2007. Flagstar Bancorp lost $39.2 million, or $0.64 per share,...

Thornburg Is Outdoing Peers in Credit Quality.
March 1, 2008... Arlington, VA -- Saying that Thornburg Mortgage is well positioned to keep paying investors a strong dividend despite the challenging mortgage environment, analysts at Friedman Billings Ramsey here give Thornburg an "outperform" rating. ...

OCC Is Warry Of CRE Loans.
March 1, 2008... Washington -- The Comptroller of the Currency is warning national banks to size up their commercial real estate portfolios before his examiners start knocking on their doors. Examiners are going to be taking a hard look at CRE portfolios,...

CRE Consolidation Continues Apace.
March 1, 2008... The theme of consolidation in the commercial servicing space continues, with all the major servicers adding to their portfolios at the end of 2007. According to the year-end rankings of commercial mortgage servicers by the Mortgage Bankers...

Refi Volume Edges Up as Rates Sink.
March 1, 2008... Sure, the focus remains on credit risk. And because of tighter underwriting standards, refinancing rates have slowed down for most portfolios. But if you think interest rate risk was a thing of the past, think again. The early portion of...

US Bancorp Feels Some Heat from Housing Woes: The provision for credit losses rose 33%, with construction and homebuilding credits weaking near the end of 2007.
March 1, 2008... Minneapolis -- U.S. Bancorp here reported a drop in net income of more than 20% in the fourth quarter of 2007 as compared to the same period the year before. The company cited the challenging economic environment facing the financial services...

MBIA Seeks New Capital to Support its Credit Ratings.
March 1, 2008... Armonk, NY -- MBIA Inc., whose credit guarantees stand behind billions of dollars in subprime mortgage bonds, posted a $2.3 billion loss in the fourth quarter, blaming the problem partly on the performance of second liens and "CDO squared"...

Moody's Affirms WFC's Ratings.
March 1, 2008... New York -- Moody's Investors Service has affirmed Wells Fargo Bank's top ratings as a primary servicer of both prime and subprime mortgage loans. In addition to affirming the "SQ1" ratings as a primary servicer, Moody's also affirmed...

Mudd Is Optimistic as Fannie Mae Looks to Future.
March 1, 2008... Washington -- Fannie Mae said its book of business grew at the compound annualized rate of 24.7% in December, while mortgage-backed securities and other guarantees increased by 27.1% as the total MBS issuance reached $64 billion. Fannie's...

Online Auctions Going Strong.
March 1, 2008... Jim Case, a highly experienced real estate investor, thought there needed to be a better way to put buyers and sellers together, so he created FastHomeAuction.com to market REO properties. The innovative approach has resulted in generating...

'CaliFlorida' the Nation's Barometer.
March 1, 2008... Washington -- As goes "CaliFlorida," so goes the nation's housing economy, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. That's because California and Florida, together, account for almost 19% of gross domestic product in the United...

Comerica Affected By Tough Market: Challenges in the residential real estate development portfolio affected performance.
March 1, 2008... Dallas -- Comerica Inc.'s fourth-quarter net income dropped by more than a third when compared to both the third quarter of 2007 and the fourth quarter of 2006. The company said that fourth-quarter earnings were largely impacted by a decrease...

Homeowners Favor Repayment Plans to Mods: No one likes reporting, but currently it is critical to avoid unnecessary foreclosures.
March 1, 2008... Washington -- Hope Now servicers are starting to provide data on their loan workout efforts and the first report shows that troubled subprime ARM borrowers in the third quarter were seven times more likely to end up in a repayment plan than...

Hope Now Expands Membership and Services.
March 1, 2008... Washington -- Hope Now, the national alliance created by the mortgage industry, investors and nonprofits to maximize outreach assistance to foreclosure-risk homeowners, continues to expand membership, which currently includes over 20 servicers...

Sub Servicers Provide Modification Data to State Bank Regulators.
March 1, 2008... Washington -- Subprime servicers are starting to provide data on their loan modification efforts to a working group of state attorneys generals and banking regulators, according to New York banking superintendent Richard Neiman. "We are...

Response to Workout Options Continues to Grow.
March 1, 2008... McLean, VA -- Despite a surge in media coverage of mortgage delinquencies and defaults, a new survey commissioned by Freddie Mac suggests that many homeowners remain unaware that their mortgage lender may be able to help them avert foreclosure....

NFCC is Warning Against Foreclosure Scam Artists.
March 1, 2008... Silver Spring, MD -- The very high and rising default and foreclosure rate has introduced to the marketplace fraudulent companies and individuals trying to cash on homeowner fears of foreclosure, the National Foundation for Credit Counseling...

Fitch Rises Subprime RMBS Loss Expectations.
March 1, 2008... New York -- Worsening mortgage performance across the marketplace is affecting ratings. Following a significant deterioration of U.S. subprime mortgage performance over the last several months, Fitch Ratings has adjusted its subprime RMBS...

New Tool Screens Consumer Debt Portfolio Risk.
March 1, 2008... Palo Alto, CA -- Financial Crossing Inc. has launched Liability Health Check, a new tool that offers customized financial risk advice based on sophisticated analyzes of mortgage and liability data. Since adjustable-rate loans became so...

S&P Downgrades Mount.
March 1, 2008... New York -- Standard & Poor's Ratings Services has downgraded 3,787 classes from U.S. residential mortgage-backed securities that are collateralized by first-lien subprime mortgage loans rated between January 2006 and June 2007. S&P also...

Mortgage Fraud Reports Reach Record.
March 1, 2008... Washington -- In the first fiscal quarter of this year financial institutions filed a record 15,000 suspicious activity reports with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, passing on allegations of mortgage fraud and other criminal behavior. ...

WKFS Creates Loan-Mod Program for B&C Loans.
March 1, 2008... Minneapolis -- Wolters Kluwer Financial Services is offering to help mortgage servicers modify the loans of distressed subprime borrowers who face onerous rate resets. WKFS, a provider of compliance, content and technology solutions to the...

Market Weakness May Force FHA to Raise Risk.
March 1, 2008... Washington -- Deteriorating market conditions and adverse loan performance could force the Federal Housing Administration to raise its insurance premiums later this year if Congress doesnt give the agency more tools to manage its risks,...

Banks Take 'Case by Case Approach'.
March 1, 2008... Washington -- A Federal Reserve Board survey of senior loan officers shows that the vast majority of commercial banks are taking a "case-by-case" approach to loan modifications. Despite pressure from federal regulators, many banks don't...

Washington Federal's Problem Assets Increase.(Washington Federal Inc.)(Financial report)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... Seattle -- Washington Federal produced earnings that were in line with expectations in the fourth quarter of 2007, though nonperforming assets rose significantly. Washington Federal earned $0.38 per share in the three-month period ending...

Banks See Value of GSE Preferred Securities Drop.
March 1, 2008... South Bend, IN -- In an indication of how widespread mortgage-related problems spread late last year, even banks that avoided subprime lending are taking charges on mortgage assets, including the preferred securities of Fannie Mae and Freddie...

Citi to Sell or Close FCS.
March 1, 2008... New York -- Citigroup, decimated by billions of dollars in writedowns on subprime assets, has decided to close its warehouse lending division, First Collateral Services, Concord, Calif. The company has contacted investment bankers about...

Fremont Sells Its Texas Servicing Facility.(Fremont General Corp.)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... Santa Monica, CA -- Fremont General Corp., which does business as Fremont Investment & Loan, said that it has agreed to sell the fixed assets and assign its lease obligation for an Irving, Texas, loan servicing facility to an unnamed buyer. ...

Fannie Posts Volume Growth.(Federal National Mortgage Association)(Financial report)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... Washington -- Lower interest rates and a shift toward conforming lending helped Fannie Mae generate solid business growth in December. The company said its total book of business increased at a 24.7% annualized rate in December. Fannie Mae...

Zacks: Fed Boost Won't Last Long.(Zacks Investment Research Inc.)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... Chicago -- History suggests that the Fed's effort to boost the economy with rate cuts may not do much to lift the stock prices of financial companies over the long run, according to an analysis by Zacks Investment Research, which owns...

Environment Remains Difficult for MI Firms.
March 1, 2008... New York -- Based on what preliminary indications show, the fourth quarter of 2007 was another financial disaster for the mortgage insurance industry. First, MGIC Investment Corp., Milwaukee, is projecting incurred losses for the fourth...

Sambol to Head Combined BoA/CFC Mortgage Operation.
March 1, 2008... Charlotte, NC -- David Sambol has been chosen to head up the combined consumer mortgage business of Bank of America Corp. here once it completes its acquisition of Countrywide Financial Corp., Calabasas, Calif., which is expected in the third...

Democrats Propose a Depression-Era Aid Model.
March 1, 2008... Washington -- The idea of recreating a Depression-era agency to purchase defaulted mortgages and prevent widespread foreclosures is gaining traction in the House and Senate. Senate Banking Committee chairman Chris Dodd, D-Conn., is working...

Could GSEs Take$16 Billion Hit?
March 1, 2008... Washington -- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could write down the value of their subprime and alt-A securities by as much as $16 billion in the fourth quarter, according to a report issued by Credit Suisse. CS analyst Moshe Orenbuch estimates...

Advocates Warry Of BoA, CFC Deal.
March 1, 2008... Calabasas, CA -- A quartet of consumer groups have expressed their apprehension about the proposed takeover of Countrywide Financial Corp. here by Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America in a letter to the two top Democrats in Congress overseeing...

Rating Agencies Expect CRE Price Decline.
March 1, 2008... New York -- Two credit rating agencies report that commercial real estate indices they maintain point to a decline in commercial real estate prices. Standard & Poor's said that October results on its S&P/GRA commercial real estate indices...

Credit Crunch May Hinder CRE Markets.
March 1, 2008... New York -- Although the commercial real estate sector is better equipped to handle the impact of an ongoing credit crunch than it has been in the past, returns are likely to be down in 2008, according to a report from Deloitte Consulting's...

Expert Advises People To Beware of Scams.
March 1, 2008... Miami -- Foreclosures, debt, or past credit problems have tainted the records of many customers who turn into credit repair targets even though according to the Federal Trade Commission, accurate and timely negative information on a credit...

Valuations.(management and forecast of mortgages)
March 1, 2008... When it comes time for lenders to appraise their mortgage-servicing asset each quarter, a lot of servicing executives face a nervous prospect. In today's environment, just about all of the assets that affect a mortgage servicing operation...

Some Economists See Price Bottom this Summer.
March 1, 2008... Washington -- Existing single-family home sales fell by 13% in 2007 and new home sales plummeted 26.4%, but many economists expect sales will bottom out this summer while house prices continue to fall. Fannie Mae economists expected...

Two Firms Create New Loan Price Index.
March 1, 2008... Warminster, PA -- Level 1, a joint venture between IntraPrise Solutions and The Servicing Source, has launched a new loan pricing index to provide valuation and price indications focused on non-agency and nonconforming loan products. The new...

Fourth Quarter a Mixed One for Servicing Values.
March 1, 2008... New York -- The fourth quarter of 2007 demonstrated once again how volatile the value of mortgage servicing rights can be, even in a period when interest rates were only nominally lower than at the beginning of the quarter. The 55 basis...

Commercial Realty Values May Lose Some Ballast.
March 1, 2008... Washington -- Commercial property prices are not likely to go up in 2008 as much as they did in previous years, according to the National Association of Realtors. It is likely that property prices will soften considering that...

Panel: Embrace Innovation.(need for innovation by financial services)
March 1, 2008... Orlando, FL -- As the industry goes through this downturn, panelists at the 11th Annual SourceMedia Mortgage Technology Conference here stressed that this is not the time for the industry to shy away from technology innovation. In fact, all...

Servicing People.
March 1, 2008... CALIFORNIA Irvine-RealtyTrac has hired Larry Spencer as vice president. Mr. Spencer will focus on industry relations, with a special emphasis on forging relationships with Multiple Listing Services. He brings more than 25 years of...

M&T's Earnings Fall On 2007 Market Woes.
March 1, 2008... Buffalo, NY -- In accordance with generally accepted accounting principals, M&T Bank Corp. saw a bit more than one-fifth of its net income for 2007 evaporate as compared to the same time period 12 months earlier because of the downturn in...

Middleburg Financial Hurt by Mortgage Stake.
March 1, 2008... Middleburg, VA -- Middleburg Financial Corp. here saw its fourth-quarter earnings drop by nearly two-thirds in a year-over-year comparison, due mostly to an impairment charge related to the company's investment in Southern Trust Mortgage LCC....