Mortgage Servicing News articles from March 2009

Mortgage Servicing News archives from March 2009

ARMs Now Require Payment Premium.
March 1, 2009... McLean, VA-Say goodbye to the teaser rate and hello to the payment premium on adjustable-rate mortgages. ARM lending fell sharply last year as the initial payment savings disappeared, according to a survey by Freddie Mac. "Our survey...

Bank of America Might Outsource Loan Modifications.
March 1, 2009... Washington-Urban Settlement Services of Pittsburgh, a loan modification specialist, is talking to Bank of America and Fannie Mae about possible contracts, according to one executive close to the vendor. At press time, USS executives Jim...

FTC Distributes Funds From EMC Settlement.
March 1, 2009... Washington-The Federal Trade Commission said it has completed the distribution of $28 million to 68,000 homeowners that were allegedly harmed by EMC Mortgage Corp.'s servicing practices. In September 2008, EMC and its parent, Bear Stearns &...

Regulator Sees Big Jump in GSE Loan Modifications.
March 1, 2009... Washington-Modifications of loans owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were up 50% in the first two months after regulators seized control of the government-sponsored enterprises. The Federal Housing Finance Agency said...

One Bad Vintage Represents 30% of MI in Force.
March 1, 2009... Byline: Brad Finkelstein New York-The outlook for private mortgage insurers for 2009 remains negative as they will have to deal with loans they underwrote in 2007, a report from Fitch Ratings here declares. The 2007 vintage, "a low point...

Wachovia Exceeds $400 Billion Mark.
March 1, 2009... Washington-Wachovia Securities, which services $413 billion of commercial mortgages as either a master or primary servicer, tops the commercial real estate servicing list just released by the Mortgage Bankers Association. Following...

Moody's Pegs Nationwide Home Price Drop at 36%.
March 1, 2009... New York-Moody's Economy.com predicts that the value of homes nationwide will be more than a third lower when prices bottom out late this year. Specifically, Moody's predicts that the housing market will find a bottom by year-end and that...

Borrowing Short and Lending Long Poses Problem.(Mortgage Scene)
March 1, 2009... Byline: Paul Muolo What's more dangerous: originating a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage using short-term deposits and then holding that note in portfolio - or gathering subprime loans through a loan broker who's using a wholesaler that intends...

Moody's Sees High ARM Losses.
March 1, 2009... New York-Moody's Investors Service has updated its loss expectations on residential mortgage-backed securities issued in 2006 and 2007, saying that it now expects cumulative losses of 27% for the 2006 vintage and 30% for the 2007 vintage. ...

Penn. AG Settles Countrywide Suit.
March 1, 2009... Byline: Jennifer Harmon Harrisburg, PA-The Pennsylvania attorney general's office said it has reached a $150 million settlement with Countrywide Financial Corp. to obtain mortgage relief and cash assistance for thousands of Pennsylvania...

Servicing People.
March 1, 2009... CALIFORNIA Agoura Hills-James R. Park has joined Interthinx as vice president and chief valuation officer. Mr. Park has been in the valuation profession for over 23 years. He is the former chief appraiser and senior vice president...

ARM Borrowers Seek Rescue from FHA Program.(Managing REO)
March 1, 2009... Byline: Jennifer Harmon Dallas-Lenders across the country are making FHA a product of choice. But a high percentage of loan originators in the mortgage industry have only been in the business for three years, according to industry insiders...

Fannie Mae Ceases Eviction of Renters.(Managing REO)
March 1, 2009... Byline: Brian Collins Washington-Fannie Mae has stopped all evictions of renters living in foreclosed single-family properties while it finalizes a new policy that will allow tenants to remain in their homes. "Fannie is finalizing a...

New GSE Policy AidsForeclosure Renters.(Managing REO)
March 1, 2009... Washington-Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are implementing new policies that will allow renters to remain in their homes after the agencies foreclose on the owner. Fannie is offering renters a new month-to-month lease to stay put or financial...

USB Sees Higher HE Charge-Offs.(Managing REO)
March 1, 2009... Minneapolis-U.S. Bancorp's residential and commercial mortgage portfolios grew at a strong clip in 2008, as the company expanded its presence in the mortgage space through acquisitions of troubled banks. The company, which acquired Downey...

Auctions Touted as Way to Reduce Neighborhood Blight.(Managing REO)
March 1, 2009... Byline: Jennifer Harmon New York-Default servicers have an opportunity to change the current real estate marketplace that is seeing a rise in REO and blighted homes as a result of foreclosures. If borrowers are facing default, and if...

Fed Starting Workouts For Delinquent Borrowers.(Managing REO)
March 1, 2009... Byline: Brian Collins Washington-The New York Federal Reserve Bank is holding billions of dollars of residential mortgage assets from Bear Stearns and American International Group and the Federal Reserve Board has finally decided to start...

Technology Firm Employs Behavioral Modeling.(Special Report)
March 1, 2009... Scottsdale, AZ-Multifunctional tools that help determine the net present value of a distressed mortgage portfolio are highly attractive in a market where liquidity is scarce. The recent wave of redefaults has shown the "one-size-fits-all"...

'Texas Ratio' Falls Short as Tool.(Special Report)
March 1, 2009... New York-For years, regulators have relied on the "Texas ratio" to get a quick read on the health of banks. But A.M. Best's researchers say that in today's economy, the Texas ratio may not be the best way to get a read on the pulse of a...

Wintrust Takes Hits from Servicing, Derivatives.
March 1, 2009... Byline: Bonnie Sinnock Lake Forest, IL-Wintrust Financial Corp. here expects declining market values and loan performance concerns to continue to challenge it going forward, but for the time being the company as a whole is relatively...

Zillow: $6.1 Trillion in Equity Gone.
March 1, 2009... Seattle-Home Values fell almost 12% nationally in 2008, with much of the decrease coming in the fourth quarter, according to Zillow.com. That means homeowners lost $3.3 trillion in equity value for the year, with $1.4 trillion of the...

Vendor Aids ARM Deals.(Technology)
March 1, 2009... Santa Ana, CA-First American Outsourcing and Technology Solutions here has developed a new auditing solution designed to reduce the cost and risk of servicing, acquiring and selling adjustable-rate mortgage loan portfolios. The solution...

Ventas Sells Centers To Pay Down Debt.(Commercial)
March 1, 2009... Chicago-Health care real estate investment trust Ventas here has closed on the sale of four seniors housing units to affiliates of Benchmark Assisted Living for an aggregate sale price of $58.7 million. The assets are located in Massachusetts...

Hotel Transaction Volume May Continue to Drop in 2009.(Commercial)
March 1, 2009... Byline: James Comtois Chicago-Following an 80% drop in global hotel transaction volume last year, 2009 will exhibit a further decline, to levels last seen between 2001 and 2003, according to Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels' Hotel Investment...

A Dozen Years Ago.(Editorial)
March 1, 2009... Byline: Ted Cornwell A little more than 12 years ago, this newspaper's parent company decided to found a niche industry publication to serve the mortgage servicing industry. It was a natural fit with our flagship, the weekly National...

Amid Layoffs, Fannie is Adding to Texas Servicing Staff.(News Analysis)
March 1, 2009... Byline: Paul Muolo Washington-Last week the story du jour in Washington was the Obama administration's "maybe" plans to create a bad bank to buy billions worth of toxic mortgages (and other assets) to unclog the balance sheets of...

'Investigatora[euro][TM] Alleges Many Foreclosures Are Illegal.
March 1, 2009... Byline: Jennifer Harmon West Palm Beach, FL-MFI-Miami here, a mortgage fraud investigation and forensic auditing firm, said it is launching an investigation against several banks, including Deutsche Bank and LaSalle Bank, for what it...

Fitch Lowers Bank of America's Default & Servicer Ratings.
March 1, 2009... Byline: Brad Finkelstein Charlotte, NC-In the wake of the poor earnings report and disclosures about additional government assistance at Bank of America Corp. here, Fitch Ratings, Chicago, has cut the long-term issuer default rating on the...

Freddie Outsources Modification Duties to Ocwen.
March 1, 2009... Byline: Kate Berry, American Banker Washington-Freddie Mac's decision to hire specialist firms such as Ocwen Financial Corp. to work out seriously delinquent mortgages is another sign that servicers are being overwhelmed by the volume of...

Geithner Focused on Foreclosure Relief Effort.
March 1, 2009... Byline: Brian Collins Washington-New Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner doesnat have very much time to put together a comprehensive plan to stabilize the banks, increase the flow of credit and curb rising foreclosures. President...

Merrill Pays $450 Million in OH Settlement.
March 1, 2009... Washington-Merrill Lynch & Co. - now the property of Bank of America - has agreed to pay $450 million to settle a subprime collateralized debt obligation lawsuit brought by lead plaintiff, the Ohio State Teachers Retirement System. ...

Attorneys Want to Pressure Lenders on Relief.
March 1, 2009... Byline: Jennifer Harmon New York-Rates of mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures are increasing rapidly, imposing large costs on borrowers, their communities and the national economy. Speakers at the recent real estate law section of...

NatCity Cancellation Irritates Loan Bidders.
March 1, 2009... Washington-In late December, National City Corp. pulled a $2.1 billion portfolio of troubled mortgages off the market after several investors had spent thousands of dollars conducting due diligence and then proffered bids, investment banking...

ResCap's Servicing Continues to Decline.
March 1, 2009... New York-Mortgage banker Residential Capital Corp. - whose parent recently completed a huge debt swap with bond holders - continued to bleed red ink in the fourth quarter, posting a loss of nearly $1 billion as both its home loan fundings and...

Stimulus Bill May Spur Bankruptcy Filings.
March 1, 2009... Byline: Brian Collins Washington-Cramdown legislation pending in Congress could cause a asubstantiala surge in bankruptcy filings by consumers, including mortgagors who are currently paying their loans, according to a new report by...

Credit Costs Weigh on Regionals.
March 1, 2009... New York-Rising credit costs and asset writedowns continued to pressure regional banks that are big players in the mortgage industry late last year. Fifth Third Bancorp, Cincinnati, lost $2.2 billion in the fourth quarter, with a $965...

Two Firms Expand Hedge Services.(Hedging)
March 1, 2009... Byline: Ted Cornwell In today's economic environment, most eyes are trained on credit risk. But with rates once again falling and many lenders reporting impairment to the value of their servicing rights, there is a need to focus on...

No Interest in ALS Servicing.
March 1, 2009... Byline: Paul Muolo New York-Lehman Brothers Holdings, which filed for bankruptcy protection last fall, has been shopping around its alt-A servicing division in recent months but with no buyers. At one point, the unit, Aurora Loan...

Would Cramdowns Cut Foreclosures?
March 1, 2009... Washington-Congressional supporters of bankruptcy cramdown legislation found vindication in a recent report by Credit Suisse that says bankruptcy reform could make a sizable dent in foreclosures. "We expect the bankruptcy plan will provide...

One Buyer Is Still Eyeing B&C Deals.
March 1, 2009... Byline: Ted Cornwell New York-American Home Mortgage Servicing Inc., the servicing platform of a failed subprime lender that was acquired by turnaround specialist WL Ross in 2007, is buying servicing rights on 185,000 loans from Citi...

Wells Reaches $2 Trillion.
March 1, 2009... Byline: Ted Cornwell San Francisco-The addition of $379 billion of mortgage servicing rights from Wachovia boosted Wells Fargo's portfolio of managed home loans to $2.1 trillion, 39% higher than a year earlier. Wells valued that...

Dona[euro][TM]t Overlook Gen Ya[euro][TM]s Online Enthusiasm.(Viewpoint)
March 1, 2009... Byline: Missy Zakett Ms. Zakett is vice president of sales at Western Union Payment Services. She works with mortgaging servicing organizations to establish effective payment strategies to meet their needs in todayas challenging economy....