Mortgage Servicing News articles from May 2001

Mortgage Servicing News archives from May 2001

Issue Date Notice.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... May, 2001

WaMu Set To Pass $400B Mark.(Washington Mutual Inc.)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
May 1, 2001... On the heels of its deals to buy Bank United and PNC Mortgage, Washington Mutual announced the biggest servicing-related mortgage transaction ever last month. Continuing its "buy and build" strategy of growth, Washington Mutual agreed to...

Credit Unions Service More Loans Than Expected.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... A survey conducted by a research firm here shows that credit unions have more mortgage-related assets than previously believed, with the industry's largest mortgage lender accounting for much of the uncounted total. Increasingly, some...

Rating Agencies Gear Up for More Scrutiny.(Moody's Investors Service)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... In subtle ways, all three of the major rating agencies have made changes that suggest investor scrutiny of loan servicing on mortgage-backed securities has increased. Moody's Investors Service earlier this year started issuing formal...

SPEEDWATCH: Acceleration Fueled By Busy March Pipeline.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... Prepayment rates for nearly all agency mortgage-backed securities surged across the board in March. The Fannie Mae and Ginnie Mae numbers ran a little ahead of the Freddie Mac speeds, reflecting two weeks in a falling mortgage rate...

Jim Milligan.(Alltel Information Services)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... Alltel Information Services has announced that it is merging its Financial Services and Residential Lending divisions into one organization. Jim Milligan, president of Alltel Residential Lending Solutions, has been named president of the...

TOP SUBPRIME subSERVICERS AT 12/31/00.(Illustration)
May 1, 2001... (Dollars in Millions) (part 1 of 2) Rank Organization Name, Location 1 Fairbanks Capital Corp., Salt Lake City, UT 2 Ocwen Financial Corp., West Palm Beach, FL 3 Wendover Financial, Greensboro, NC 4 Advanta...

Escrow Issues and Servicing Transfers Dominate RESPA Complaints.(Real Estate Procedures Settlement Act)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... Two out of every five complaints alleging violations of the Real Estate Procedures Settlement Act involve servicing issues rather than settlement services, according to the government's chief RESPA enforcement officer. Fully 40% of the...

S&P Upgrades Risk Modeling Tool.(Standard and Poor's Corp.)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... Standard & Poor's has released a new version of LEVELS - a rating and risk modeling software that has been used in the residential mortgage securities market for five years. The software employs a proprietary loan rating and risk...

William V. Nutt Jr.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... Mr. Nutt has been elected president and chief executive officer of United Guaranty Corp., Greensboro, N.C., by the UGC board of directors. Mr. Nutt, 45, will direct the strategy and operations of all UGC's subsidiaries - which include mortgage...

Ratings Roundup: Fitch Sees Strength in Four Veterans.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
May 1, 2001... Fitch recently assigned ratings to four servicers, upgrading two of them. First Nationwide saw its residential master servicer rating go to 'RMS2-'. Fitch has recently added plus and minus signs to its servicer rating criteria to further...

SNAPSHOT: OTHER RECENT SERVICER RATING ACTIONs.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... Litton Loan Servicing: rated as 'SQ1,' Moody's top rating, as a special servicer and primary servicer of prime and subprime loans. Aurora Loan Services: Added to S&P's select servicer list as a residential loan master servicer. Legg...

The GSE Debate.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... The relationship between mortgage lenders and the government-sponsored enterprises has always been complex. In recent months, it has seemed strained as mortgage insurers and some large lenders express concern about "charter creep." While much...

FHA Insurance Fund Remains Strong.(Federal Housing Administration)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... Mr. McCool, managing director for financial markets and community investments at the General Accounting Office, recently testified before a subcommittee of the House Financial Services Committee about the state of the Federal Housing...

Mortgage Scene: Who's Really Behind FM Watch? No Secrets There.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... The recent flare-up in the mortgage civil war between the GSEs and FM Watch has been none-too- pretty. Then again, there's nothing a journalist likes better than a good war story. But the sad thing about it all is that once the smoke finally...

Collateral Valuation Provides Clue to Refinancing Risk.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... Since lenders typically pay $1,000 to $2,000 per loan to originate and acquire the servicing asset, portfolio retention has become a top concern for lenders worried about the bottom-line. And that makes unraveling the components of...

Hedging: Convexity Hedging Requires Attention to Duration Management.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... Interest rates are the central focus of hedging strategies. But hedging a mortgage portfolio, for an investor or a servicer, requires close attention to how rates affect the duration of the asset. But today, some of the tools that lenders are...

Countrywide's Mozilo Expects to See a Trillion Dollar Servicer by 2005.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... Within five short years, or even less, the mortgage banking sector will undoubtedly see its first $1 trillion servicer - but who will be the first to cross that magic threshold? According to Countywide Home Loans chairman Angelo Mozilo,...

Ocwen Completes Purchase Of New Century Portfolio.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... New Century Mortgage Corporation has completed the sale of about $4.8 billion in servicing rights to Ocwen Federal Bank, West Palm Beach, Fla. Ocwen paid $19.7 million for the portfolio, according to New Century. The actual size of the...

Speed Watch: March Prepayment Acceleration Fueled by Strong Pipeline Capacity.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... Writing in the Bear Stearns Prepayment Commentary, analysts Dale Westhoff and Bruce Kramer said the size of the prepay wave wasn't all that surprising. "We believe that the biggest surprise in this report is not the magnitude, but rather...

Commercial Servicer: Wall Street Offers Stiff Competition for Commercial Mortgage Loans.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... Faced with increasing competition from Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities (CMBS) - especially in the larger value, higher quality loan market segment - insurance companies are trying to distinguish themselves on the servicing factor. To...

High Consumer Debt Load Adds to Concern About the Economy.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... While the chief economist at Standard & Poor's expects the U.S. to avoid an outright recession, the economic slowdown will make it difficult for some consumers to pay their record debt burdens. As firms lay off employees, lenders will see...

Collections: Nebraska Lender Is Accused of Defrauding Delinquent Borrowers.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... Mid America Financial Investment Corp., a company accused of defrauding borrowers and working without both a mortgage broker's and banker's license, continues to be investigated. The company's president, Elena Hollingshead, and secretary,...

Credit Counselor: Lenders Starting to Take Precautions in Light of Rising Delinquencies.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... With the national economy starting to decline after years of growth, the mortgage industry is taking early precautions to minimize the potential impact of a rise in delinquencies, defaults and foreclosures. In addition, servicers are...

Technology: Drive To Be Digital Motivates GE to Put Insurance Features Online.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... When GE Capital Mortgage Insurance, Raleigh, N.C., added new mortgage insurance management functions to its website, the company was following a credo that guides much of its business strategy these days. "Our goal is to get every...

Technology: Servicing Technology Firms May Have Interest in Tuttle's Technology.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... Rumors have been swirling this month about possible mergers and acquisitions among mortgage technology players, particularly as the industry waits for the shoe to drop in the wake of Microsoft's announced intention to find a buyer for the...

Ocwen Will Host Standards Meeting.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... Ocwen Technology Xchange (OTX), will host the May Mortgage Industry Standard Maintenance Organization (MISMO; www.mismo.org) Work Group meetings, to be held from May 14th to May 18th at the Delray Beach Marriott located in Delray Beach,...

Karen L. Schmidt.(appointed VP of Markets LandAmerica Financial Group)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... Ms. Schmidt has been appointed as executive vice president of markets at LandAmerica Financial Group Inc, Richmond, Va. Her chief responsibilities will include developing existing and potential new markets, developing new products and services...

Technology: Alltel Will Offer Access to MSTD's Default Counseling Technology.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... Users of Alltel's mortgage servicing package now have access to BackInTheBlack - a Web-based collection and loss mitigation application. BITB, a service of MSTD, Baltimore, is a rules-based application that pre-qualifies borrowers for...

Equifax Puts Credit Scores Online.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... Equifax Inc. has launched its first online credit score delivery service, Score Power, increasing consumer access to information about the health of their credit habits. "We developed the product in conjunction with Fair Isaac, (San...

Mortgage Saver Markets Bi-Weekly Loans to Borrowers.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... Mortgage Saver Inc., an automated electronic payment processing service, is in a growth period being spurred on by its new relationship with Frost Mortgage, an Albuquerque, N.M.-based mortgage broker and banker. Also contributing to the...

Tax and Accounting Changes Put Damper On the Market for Problem Loans in Italy.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
May 1, 2001... Favorable tax and accounting benefits that have driven non-performing loan securitizations in Italy will likely end in May, Moody's Investors Service's office here has reported. Moody's reported that this development "should not bring an...

Home Equity Problems on the Rise Even as Loan Demand Picks Up Steam.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
May 1, 2001... Home equity lending at national banks grew by 22% last year but delinquencies and charge-offs also edged up, according to the Comptroller of the Currency. Fourth-quarter Call Report data on national banks shows home equity loans held on...

Bankers Expect To See Bad Loans.(Brief Article)(Polling Data)(Statistical Data Included)
May 1, 2001... According to a poll of bank loan officers, 35% of lenders expect the current softening of the economy will cause an increase in bad loans. Another 23% of loan officers say they are uncertain about how the current economic conditions would...

CenterForce Guides Call Center Work.(CenterForce Planner 2.0 released)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
May 1, 2001... CenterForce Technologies Inc. has announced the release of the 2.0 version of its CenterForce Planner which is expected to be able to forecast the optimal number of phone agents needed for outbound calling campaigns. Working as a...

Regulatory Watch: Baker Wants the Fed to Hold Reins on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.(Congressman Richard Baker, Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp., Federal National Mortgage Association)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... Though much of the interest in overhauling regulation of the government-sponsored enterprises has died down since Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac entered into voluntary risk management agreements last fall, Congressman Richard Baker, R. La., has...

Fraud Plagues HUD REO Sales Program.(Department of Housing and Urban Development)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... The Department of Housing and Urban Development has suspended a program that encourages policemen and teachers to purchase foreclosed homes due to reports of fraud and mismanagement. The suspension started April 1 and for the next 120 days...

Disasters Special Report.(having personal property and casualty insurance)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... If you were reading the newspapers early last month, you probably saw stories about rising river crests in the Upper Midwest. In Minnesota, North Dakota and other Midwestern states, snow runoff coupled with heavy spring rain threatened to...

Wilshire Plans to Expand its Private Sector Flood Insurance Business.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... Wilshire National Corp., a flood services subsidiary of WNC Insurance Services Inc. is projecting an expansion of its Private Flood Insurance Program into an additional 10 states by the end of 2002. California and Florida are the only...

North Carolina Agency Commended for Encouraging Flood Coverage.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... The Federal Insurance Administration has commended the North Carolina Department of Insurance for its initiative to promote the purchase of flood insurance by North Carolina property owners. The FIA, which administers the National Flood...

Flood Coverage Firms Meet in Minneapolis.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... The National Flood Insurance Program will be holding its annual flood conference in Minneapolis later this month. The conference is scheduled for May 22-25 at the Minneapolis Hilton. Highlights of the conference include a golf...

FEMA Wants E-Commerce in the Flood Insurance Program's Future.(Federal Emergency Management Agency)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... In an effort to bring flood insurance into the e-commerce age, FEMA is trying to generate private sector interest in an "eRating" system to underwrite flood policies. But after developing a white paper and holding an initial meeting with...

ABC Virtual Does Determinations Online Through First American Flood Data.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... ABC Virtual, developer of a loan origination system, has enhanced its software so that users can request flood compliance services through integration with First American Flood Data Services, a First American Real Estate Information Services...

MERS Earns First Profit As Registrations Climb.(Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems Inc.)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... MERS, the industry-owned electronic registry for tracking ownership interests in mortgage loans and servicing rights, turned a profit for the first time during the month of March, executives of MERS announced at the company's annual meeting...

S&P Names Charter Leaders.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... Following its acquisition of Charter Research, a provider of analytic software for the commercial real estate finance industry, Standard & Poor's has made three key appointments. Kathy D. Rainey has been appointed managing director of the...

Servicing People.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... California Santa Ana- Timothy P. Sullivan has been named as senior vice president and national litigation counsel of First American Corp., and senior vice president of First American Title Insurance Co., its subsidiary. Mr. Sullivan...

Lender-Paid Insurance Can Bolster Credit Enhancement on MBS Deals.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... Lender-paid mortgage insurance can bring significant credit enhancement to securitized pools of mortgage loans, according to Moody's Investors Service. Moody's analysts Andrew Lipton and Shiv Rao said that in some securitized mortgage...

South Carolina Firm Expands Secondary Market for Problem Loans.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... A fledgling company that opened its doors last December, Nautilus Capital LLC, a broker of distressed residential mortgage loans into the secondary market, already has plans to expand its business. "By the end of the year, we hope to have...

Safeco Takes Hit from Earthquake.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... Safeco Corp. here, a leading business and property insurer with strong ties to the mortgage industry, says it expects to pay out $15 million in claims related to the recent Seattle area earthquake. Those claims will affect first quarter...