Mortgage Servicing News articles from October 2003

Mortgage Servicing News archives from October 2003

B&C Lenders Struggle with Overdues.
October 1, 2003... There's a reason some borrowers are classified as "subprime" credits, and that reason is all too clear if you look at the delinquency rates experienced by some of the largest specialists in managing those loans. At Fairbanks Capital, a...

Subprime Delinquency Rates at 6/30/03.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... (Based on number of loans serviced) (part 1 of 2) Rk Organization Name Location 1 Fairbanks Capital Corp. Salt Lake City, UT 2 Homecomings/GMAC-RFC Bloomington, MN 3 Saxon Mortgage...

Is Boom on Last Legs?(mortgage rates)
October 1, 2003... The average mortgage rate remained below 6.5% in early September, still plenty attractive for most borrowers. But not for people who refinanced or bought a house during most of the past 12 months. In fact, rates remained above 6% for...

Foreclosure Rate Edges Down.
October 1, 2003... After hovering at incrementally record levels for almost a year, the percentage of home loans in foreclosure fell in the second quarter, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association of America. The number of loans entering the...

Overall Delinquencies Rise: 30-days or More Past Due.(Illustration)
October 1, 2003... (part 1 of 2) 2002 2002 2002 Loan Type 1st Q 2nd Q 3rd Q Conv. prime 3.04% 3.10% 3.04% VA 7.81% 8.00% 7.81% FHA 11.23% ...

NAB Sued Over HomeSide's MSR Valuations.(National Australia Bank)
October 1, 2003... National Australia Bank here, the former owner of mega-servicer HomeSide Lending, Jacksonville, Fla., has been slapped with a civil class-action lawsuit, accusing it of violating securities laws in regard to disclosures on the value of...

Rise in Servicing Values Helps Offset Loan Sales Problem at WaMu.
October 1, 2003... The chief executive of Washington Mutual Inc. said because of a mismatch between loan commitments and hedging, the company will take a loss during the quarter from the sale of mortgage loans. But some of the damage will be mitigated by...

Analyst Praises SunTrust's MSRs.(mortgage servicing rights)
October 1, 2003... SunTrust Banks, the 10th largest bank in the U.S., is poised to reap greater benefits from an improving economy than some of its rivals, according to a recent report from Sandler O'Neill. And mortgage servicing is one of the business lines...

ABN Amro Celebrates $200 Billion Milestone.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... ABN Amro Mortgage Group, Ann Arbor, Mich., now services more than $200 billion of mortgage loans for 1.6 million customers, an 8% increase from the beginning of this year. Richard Geary, group senior vice president for loan administration,...

Whither Credit Quality.
October 1, 2003... By most accounts, the economy seems to be improving. Confidence is increasing, and economic growth seems to be at least stabilizing, and perhaps gaining steam. But so far, that hasn't shown up in the employment statistics. At 6.1%, the...

Credit Data Supports Risk-Based Pricing.
October 1, 2003... Ms. Smith is director of the Federal Reserve Board's division of consumer and community affairs. This viewpoint is an excerpt of her recent congressional testimony. Credit scoring has become an important tool in the credit granting...

Don't Be Fooled: Interest Rates May Fall Yet Again.
October 1, 2003... Only a fool (or an economist for that matter) would try to predict where interest rates are headed. And only a complete fool writing a monthly column would try to do the same. After all, a lot can change in a month: Unexpected financial data...

Freddie Mac's Pilot Shifts Servicing Functionality to the Internet.
October 1, 2003... In an initiative that could reshape how lenders transact loan servicing business with the secondary market, Freddie Mac has started a pilot program to develop and test a Web-based loan servicing system. Currently one lender is...

FHLB Offers Servicing Transfers.(Federal Home Loan Bank)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... The Seattle Federal Home Loan Bank has teamed up with a mortgage servicer so that participants in its Mortgage Purchase Program can sell their loans serving released. This new MPP feature will allow participating banks and thrifts to sell...

Foreclosure Laws May Add POS Cost.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... A study by a Federal Reserve System economist suggests that states with "defaulter-friendly" foreclosure laws impose costs on borrowers at the time of loan origination. Using data from adjacent census tracts that happen to be in different...

Technology Vendors Move Forward with Electronic Recording Initiatives.
October 1, 2003... Even though the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws is still working on model legislation that would allow for the electronic recording of real estate liens, a number of technology vendors around the nation continue to...

Wisconsin and Minnesota See Early Electronic Recordings.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... U.S. Recordings here has recently completed the first electronic recording of a mortgage satisfaction document in Wisconsin as well as the second such recording in Minnesota. The recordings were done using the recently adopted Electronic...

Prepayments Fall Across the Board - But only for Sub 6% Loan Cohorts.
October 1, 2003... Prepayment rates for agency mortgage-backed securities fell across the board for coupons at or below the 6.0% level in the August reporting period while holding steady or rising somewhat among higher coupons. Writing in the Bear Stearns...

Experts Think Commercial Real Estate Will Continue to Perform Well.
October 1, 2003... Commercial mortgage loans have weathered the current economic downturn well and indications are that they will continue to hold up in the future. Standard & Poor's for one believes that the strong credit performance of commercial...

Sierra Capital Chooses McCracken.(Sierra Capital Cos.)(McCracken Financial Software Inc.)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... Sierra Capital Partners, Irvine, Calif., has chosen McCracken Financial Software Inc.'s Strategy loan servicing software to manage its multifamily loan portfolio, the technology vendor has reported. McCracken will deploy the servicing...

GMAC Tops Commercial Servicer Ranking.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... GMAC Commercial Mortgage still holds sway as the number one servicer of commercial mortgages by volume for the second quarter with a $172.3 billion portfolio (including servicing of commercial mortgage-backed securities, life company loans...

Countrywide Benefits from 'Multidimensional' Hedge.(Countrywide Financial Corp.)
October 1, 2003... Saying that Countrywide Financial Corp. has "among the most flexible hedging regime" in the industry, a stock analyst here says the company has positioned itself well to withstand interest rate gyrations such as the ones experienced this...

MSRs Force Mystic To Revise Earnings.(mortgage servicing rights)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... Mystic Financial, the holding company for Medford Co-operative Bank, said its was adjusting quarterly net income for the last four quarters to reflect "capitalization of the value of mortgage servicing rights." Mystic said the adjustment...

Moody's: despite HEtTrouble spots, serious delinquency rate remains low.(home equity)
October 1, 2003... The percentage of home equity loans that were seriously delinquent remained low by historical standards in the first quarter, according to Moody's Investors Service. More troubling, however, is a rise in loan charge-offs. The charge-off...

2002 Home equity vintage performing well: serious delinquency rate at 11 months of seasoning.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... '01 First Quarter: 7.63% '02 Second Quarter: 6.25% '02 First Quarter: 5.30% '02 Second Quarter: 4.61% Source: Moody's Home Equity Index Composite Copyright 2003 Thomson Media Inc. All Rights Reserved....

Judge Blocks Dayton Law.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... Ohio state law pre-empts Dayton's predatory lending law, an Ohio judge ruled here on Aug. 26. The decision is the first in a series of court cases between cities in Ohio and the state itself over who has the legal right to regulate mortgage...

CitiFinanical 'A Different Company' Now.(Citifinancial Mortgage)
October 1, 2003... Rating agency Moody's Investors Services says that Citifinancial Mortgage, the subprime lending subsidiary purchased by Citigroup two years ago, has become a "distinctly different company" as a result of sweeping changes made at the business....

Derrick Jones.(eAppraiseIT)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... Real estate valuation services provider eAppraiseIT has named Derrick Jones its new vice president of operations for the Poway, Calif., service center. Mr. Jones is responsible for managing the daily operations and analyzing processes in order...

Firm: Foreclosures Rising in Some Cities.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... Even as the economy improves overall, some markets are likely to continue seeing rising defaults, according to Foreclosures.com, a firm that manages online sales of distressed properties and home loans. Among the markets that are likely to...

AFN Plans to Keep Agenda Flexible.(American Foreclosure Network)
October 1, 2003... A new organization, the American Foreclosure Network, has been formed to serve the financial services industry. The AFN's new executive director, William LeRoy, says the group will remain flexible and likely see its mission grow beyond...

Title Insurers See Lower Losses.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... The American Land Title Association announced gross revenue for the tsle industry for the first six months of this year was $7.49 billion, a 36.5% jump from the same timeframe in 2002, amid indications of strong performance for title insurance...

Recent LandAmerica Deals Designed to Boost Bundling Potential.(Info1 Holding Co.)(Lereta Corp.)
October 1, 2003... LandAmerica Financial Group Inc. here, preparing for the new face of the mortgage banking industry, has made separate deals to acquire INFO1 Holding Co. Inc., an Atlanta-based mortgage credit report provider, and Lereta Corp., a national tax...

1st American Buys Two Units.(Transamerica Finance Corp.)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... The First American Corp., already among the nation's largest providers of real estate information and related services, has reached an agreement with Transamerica Finance Corp. to buy its tax and flood companies. First American said the...

CBC Now Offers Foreclosure Services.(CBC Cos.)
October 1, 2003... CBC Companies here has added foreclosure services to its bundle of mortgage offerings with the recent acquisition of five related default servicing companies. CBC said the acquisitions support the company's goal to be a national leader in...

Home Equity Impairment Fails to Dampen Irwin Financial's Results.
October 1, 2003... Irwin Financial Corp., Columbus, Ind., a bank holding company focusing on mortgage banking, small business lending, and home equity lending, had a good second quarter, but its losses on home equity widened. Irwin earned second-quarter net...

Irwin's Managed HE Portfolio.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... June 30, 2002: $2.1 billion June 30, 2003: $1.7 billion Source: Irwin Financial Copyright 2003 Thomson Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. http://www.thomsonmedia.com http://www.mortgageservicingnews.com

Special Report: Mortgage Insurance.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... eLenders take great pains to make sure that "bad" loans don't get in the door. Underwriting, coupled with sophisticated credit and behavioral scoring technology, allows the mortgage industry to assess default risk and set appropriate rules...

B&C Servicers Learning to Manage Mortgage Insurance Coverage.
October 1, 2003... As mortgage insurance coverage expands in the subprime sector, the servicers managing these loans find they have to learn to handle claims and processing for covered loans. Murrayhill, a company that provides mortgage risk credit...

MGIC Unveils New Time Saver.(Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corp.)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corp. has released a second version of its online mortgage insurance ordering tool, MI on the Web. The company said the new version makes it faster and easier to order MGIC mortgage insurance and facilitates...

New Environment Lures United Guaranty to Taiwan's Market.
October 1, 2003... United Guaranty Corp. and the Taiwan minister of finance have announced the establishment of United Guaranty's first Taiwan branch office. Through its Taipei location, United Guaranty Corp. subsidiary United Guaranty Mortgage Indemnity...

Private Mortgage Insurers Ranked by New Policies Written in 6/30/03.(Illustration)
October 1, 2003... (Dollars in Millions) (part 1 of 2) Rank Organization Name Location 1 Mortgage Guaranty Ins. Milwaukee, WI 2 PMI Group San Francisco, CA 3 Radian Guaranty, Inc. Philadelphia,...

Private Mortgage Insurers Ranked by Policies in Force at 6/30/03.(Illustration)
October 1, 2003... (Dollars in Millions) (part 1 of 2) Rank Organization Name Location 1 Mortgage Guaranty Ins. Milwaukee, WI 2 PMI Group San Francisco, CA 3 Radian Guaranty, Inc. Philadelphia,...

MI's Paid $9 Billion in 1990s.
October 1, 2003... The nation's private mortgage insurance companies enjoyed strong financial health during most of the 1990s, but the industry still paid out over $9 billion in claims during the decade, according to the trade group that represents the...

MI in Force.(mortgage insurance)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... 1999: $598.5 billion 2000: $650.1 billion 2001: $698.3 billion 2002: $733.3 billion Copyright 2003 Thomson Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. http://www.thomsonmedia.com http://www.mortgageservicingnews.com

MICA Publishes New MI Fact Book.(Mortgage Insurance Companies of America)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... The Mortgage Insurance Companies of America has published an updated version of its annual fact book. MICA's 2003-2004 Fact Book and Membership Directory provides a comprehensive overview of the private mortgage insurance industry,...

Title Insurance Dispute Costs Trade Group a Member Firm.
October 1, 2003... The Radian Group here has left the Mortgage Insurance Cos. of America, the trade group that represents the private mortgage insurance industry. MICA and the other members of the group opposed Radian's efforts to get its Radian Lien...

MI Cure Ratio Falls in July.(Illustration)
October 1, 2003... Month Cures Defaults Ratio July '02 36,564 46,962 77.90% Aug. '02 29,008 45,956 84.90% Sept. '02 41,331 49,050 84.30% Oct. '02 41,726 51,765 80.60% Nov....

Rating Outlook For MGIC Shifts.(MGIC Investment Corp.)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... The insurer financial strength rating of Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corp. has been affirmed at AA- plus by Fitch Ratings, but the outlook for the AA-minus debt ratings of MGIC Investment Corp. has been changed from stable to negative. ...

Top Subprime Servicers at 6/30/03.
October 1, 2003... (Dollars in Millions) (part 1 of 2) Rank Organization Name Location 1 Household Financial Services (E) (1) Prospect Heights, IL 2 CitiFinancial Baltimore, MD ...

Servicing People.(Independent Realty Capital Corp. )
October 1, 2003... CALIFORNIA Anaheim-Independent Realty Capital Corp. promoted Phillip McCall to president. Mr. McCall previously served as Independent's chief operating officer and oversaw the firm's mortgage banking units and general operations. Mr....

Zandi Expects Credit Quality to Deteriorate.
October 1, 2003... A prominent economist told investors in mortgage-backed securities recently that even though the economy is improving, he expects mortgage delinquencies to keep rising. In fact, between now and the end of 2005, Mark Zandi of Economy.com...

Fairbanks Meets with Disgruntled Customers.
October 1, 2003... After months of being under fire from politicians, regulators, consumer advocates and increasingly bold Democratic presidential hopefuls, a representative from Fairbanks Mortgage took some heat directly from a room full of the company's...

Replenishment Ratio of Top Servicers in Q2 2003.(Illustration)
October 1, 2003... (Dollars in Millions) (part 1 of 2) Rank Organization Name Location 1 Washington Mutual Seattle, WA 2 Wells Fargo Home Mortgage San Francisco, CA 3 Countrywide Financial...