Mortgage Servicing News articles from May 2003

Mortgage Servicing News archives from May 2003

Are B&C Delinquencies Falling?(subprime mortgage delinquencies )
May 1, 2003... Subprime mortgage delinquencies declined modestly in the fourth quarter of last year, but the trend still may be toward higher delinquencies, according to data compiled by LoanPerformance here. While the serious delinquency rate on...

Rival Hires HomEq Exec.(Fairbanks Capital Corp. appoints hires Valorie Kacherian )
May 1, 2003... Fairbanks Capital Corp., the nation's largest subprime servicer, has a new compliance chief. In and of itself, that might not sound like a big deal, but until a year ago, the Salt Lake City-based Fairbanks didn't have a compliance...

Ocwen Wins VA Contract.(Ocwen Federal Savings Bank signs deal with the Department of Veterans Affairs )(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Ocwen Federal Savings Bank has tentatively won the bidding for a Department of Veterans Affairs' contract to take over the management and sale of VA-foreclosed houses. However, the award of the contract is being challenged by a union...

HSBC - HI Merge, Late Payments Up.(HSBC Holdings-Household International merger )
May 1, 2003... It's official: HSBC Holdings, London, now owns Household International here, the third largest residential subprime servicer in the U.S. In late March, after obtaining final regulatory and shareholder approvals, HSBC paid its $14 billion...

Bill Offers FDCA Help.(Fair Debt Collection Act)
May 1, 2003... The House has passed a bill by a 420-0 vote that would provide mortgage servicers a special exemption from the Fair Debt Collection Act so that they can work with delinquent borrowers in a less hostile way. The bill (H.R. 314),...

Top Subprime Servicers at 12/31/02.(Illustration)
May 1, 2003... (part 1 of 2) (Dollars in Millions) Rank Organization Name Location 1 Fairbanks Capital Corp. Salt Lake City, UT 2 CitiFinancial Baltimore, MD 3 Household...

Refinancing May Hit 60% Mark This Year.
May 1, 2003... The chief economist of the Mortgage Bankers Association of America weighed in with his forecast of the originations market for this year, bringing his estimate up to $2.6 trillion. Douglas Duncan, speaking at the group's National Secondary...

Mortgages Crimp Consumer Credit.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Consumers have piled up a record level of debt, but they aren't in a mood to take on much more, according to a report from analysts at US Bancorp Piper Jaffray. And some debt is migrating to the home loan sector because of refinancing...

Zan Hamilton.(new president of Platinum Capital Corp.)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Mr. Hamilton is leaving Credit Suisse. First Boston's capital services group in New York to become president of Platinum Capital Corp., Irvine, Calif., a mortgage banker. He replaces Dan Perl, who recently resigned from Platinum. The...

Have Prime Delinquencies Passed Peak?
May 1, 2003... It now appears that residential delinquencies peaked in the middle of last year among 'prime' mortgage loans, but the number of loans in foreclosure remained at a record level as 2002 came to a close. The Mortgage Bankers Association of...

Banks Report higher home equity delinquencies.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Date Delinquency Rate 4th Qtr '02 1.64% 3rd Qtr '02 1.38% 2nd Qtr '02 1.38% 1st Qtr '02 1.27% Source: American Bankers Association. Note: The ABA reported that late...

A $3 Trillion Year?(forecast for home mortgage originations)
May 1, 2003... It sounds implausible to suggest that we may see $3.2 trillion in home mortgage originations this year. But that's what economists at Fannie Mae are predicting. And before you scoff at the idea that lending volume this year might be nearly...

Reconveyance Burden Not Letting Up.(mortgage and refinancing trends )
May 1, 2003... Mr. Stewart is senior vice president of Nationwide Title Clearing. 2002 was yet another record year for mortgage lending, closing out with nearly $2.5 trillion in new mortgages on the books. The record volume stretched the system to the...

Delinquencies: Making Lemonade From Lemons.(Editorial)
May 1, 2003... I love documents - 10Ks, 10Qs, S-1s, S-2s, take your pick. Documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission don't lie. Actually, that's not necessarily true. Let's back up a minute. Documents aren't supposed to lie. Then again,...

Even MBS Below 6% Being 'Whipsawed' by Prepay Threat.
May 1, 2003... Rebounding mortgage rates in late March threatened to "whipsaw" 5.5% and 6.0% 30-year agency mortgage-backed securities, according to mortgage analysts at Bear, Stearns & Co. Writing in Short-Term Prepayment Estimates, analysts Dale...

Mortgage Results Flagging at SIB.(Staten Island Bancorp)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Analysts at Sandler O'Neill have reduced their rating on the stock of Staten Island Bancorp to "maintain," but they say an SEC "informal inquiry" into the bank's restatement of financials for 2001 and 2002 does not affect its earnings...

Fitch Adds MH Deal Tracker.
May 1, 2003... Fitch Ratings has added manufactured housing-related transactions to its RMBS Deal Tracker, a Web-based product that provides investors with an array of original deal collateral attributes on Fitch-rated residential mortgage-backed securities...

Stability? Servicing Values Continue to Flirt With All-Time Lows.
May 1, 2003... You were expecting burnout this year? Thought the percentage of home loans originated to people refinancing an existing loan would finally start to fall? Once again, you might be jumping the gun if you thought the value of mortgage servicing...

Law Firm Helps War Participants.(Wilson & Associates )(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Wilson & Associates, a law firm representing creditors in foreclosure cases in Arkansas and Tennessee, said it will grant relief on a case-by-case basis for borrowers directly affected by Operation Iraqi Freedom. Robert Wilson, chairman...

MSR Sale Tests Current Market.(Hamilton, Carter, Smith & Co. deal)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... As this issue of MSN went to press, Hamilton, Carter, Smith & Co. here was brokering the sale of servicing rights on $1.7 billion of Freddie Mac loans at current interest rates in a deal that will test the market for current coupon deals. ...

New 'Watch List' Could Become Standard for CMBS Industry.
May 1, 2003... In another indication of the evolution of the commercial mortgage-backed securities market, a watch list for use by servicers of CMBS transactions has been developed by the Commercial Mortgage Securities Association. The watch list serves to...

Survey: Thrifts Retain Most Loans.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... More community banks and thrifts sold loans into the secondary market last year, but it still represented only 45% of their loan production, according to a survey by America's Community Bankers. The ACB survey found that 72% of the...

Hazard Insurance.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Spring is the peak time for flood risk in much of America, and for that reason a lot of attention has been focused on flood risk recently. Fortunately, we haven't seen the kind of widespread flooding that has created national disaster areas in...

Bond Market Lets CMBS Players Unload Catastrophe Risk to Investors.
May 1, 2003... Five years after the market began in earnest, catastrophe bonds have found a niche as a supplement to insurance on commercial properties that are vulnerable to natural disasters such as earthquakes and hurricanes. Last year, a record $1.2...

PBIS Insures Fraud Risk.(PBIS Insurance Services signs deal with GreenPoint Mortgage Funding )
May 1, 2003... Water, wind and fire are not the only hazards a lender needs to worry about these days. Now, fraud has been added to the perils that some lenders are insuring against. PBIS Insurance Services, an affiliate of the Prieston Group, has...

Gary Kasper.(Stewart Mortgage Information announces appointment)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Stewart Mortgage Information, a wholly owned subsidiary of Stewart Information Services Corp., has named Gary L. Kasper as vice president, national sales manager for SMI's flood zone determination division. In this position, Mr. Kasper will...

Roundup: Pennsylvania Homeowners Urged to Buy Flood Coverage.
May 1, 2003... After a snowy winter, the governor of Pennsylvania is urging homeowners to protect themselves from financial damage during the spring flood season by purchasing insurance. Insurance commissioner Diane Koken, who works for Gov. Ed Rendell,...

Loan Buyers Are Worried that Flood Coverage May Not Be Adequate.
May 1, 2003... Lenders and their insurance partners are facing renewed pressure from Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae to ensure that properties at risk of flood damage carry adequate insurance, according to an insurance industry executive with Safeco...

Eric Juarez.(Safeco Financial Institutions appointment)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Safeco Financial Institutions, Santa Ana, Calif., a lender-placed hazard insurance outsourcing and tracking specialist, has named Eric Juarez as senior vice president and chief financial officer. Mr. Juarez reports to Safeco FIS president Dale...

GMAC Hopes to Benefit from 'Flexibility'.(moves serving platform to Firstserv)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... GMAC Residential, which is migrating from the Excelis servicing platform to Fiserv's, hopes to benefit from the "flexibility" afforded by its new system, according to chief marketing officer Richard Gillespie. Currently, GMAC subservices...

Consultant: Post Closing Needs Improvement.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... According to a study by PricewaterhouseCoopers, many lenders are spending too much money on post-closing processes. The accounting and consulting firm says that the refinancing boom has put an unprecedented burden on lender's post-closing...

Servicers Ranked by Number of Loans Serviced at 12/31/02.(Illustration)
May 1, 2003... (part 1 of 2) (Dollars in Millions) Rank Organization Name Location 1 Washington Mutual Seattle, WA 2 Wells Fargo Home Mortgage Des Moines, IA 3 Chase Home Finance...

Servicing People.(Option One Mortgage Corp. appoints Irvine-Faith Schwartz as senior vice president of alternative markets )
May 1, 2003... CALIFORNIA Irvine-Faith Schwartz has joined Option One Mortgage Corp., a subsidiary of H&R Block, as senior vice president of alternative markets. In this newly created position, Ms. Schwartz will have responsibilities in the areas of...