Mortgage Servicing News articles from October 2004

Mortgage Servicing News archives from October 2004

Will Cendant Ever Trade?(Cendant Mortgage Corp.)
October 1, 2004... Ten months ago Cend-ant Mortgage Corp., the nation's 10th largest residential servicer, was put on the auction block by its parent - and so far a deal has yet to be consummated. In late August, Countrywide Financial Corp., Calabasas,...

Fidelity May Scrap Spinoff.(Fidelity National Financial )
October 1, 2004... Title insurance giant Fidelity National Financial has delayed - and may even scrap - the spin-off of its mortgage technology unit which includes its "service" bureau unit. As Mortgage Servicing News went to press this month, FNF management...

Top Residential Servicers & Their Technology Platforms.(Illustration)
October 1, 2004... Needham, MA- (Dollars in Millions) Received at Serv. Tech Servicer 6/30/2004 Vendor Wells Fargo Home $740,220 Fidelity Country Home $726,227 Inhouse ...

No Trouble from Bubble.(home pricing)
October 1, 2004... So far this year, home prices nationwide continue to rise at a pace faster than economists had estimated. And the good news is that few of them see evidence of a widespread home price bubble - for the moment. Data compiled by a government...

Top Subprime Servicers at 6/30/04.(Illustration)
October 1, 2004... (Dollars in Millions) (part 1 of 2) Rk Organization Name Location 1 Countrywide Financial Corp. Calabasas, CA 2 Household Financial Services (1) Prospect Heights, IL 3...

SN, Bank Trade Group Team Up.(SN Servicing Corp., America's Comm-unity Bank)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... SN Servicing Corp. has entered into an exclusive arrangement with America's Comm-unity Bankers to provide the trade group's members with workout services on problem assets. As part of the agreement, the Eureka, Calif.-based workout and...

Sadu Thinakal.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Mr. Thinakal has been named CEO of International Decision Systems, a Schroder Ventures company based in Minneapolis that provides lease, loan accounting and portfolio management software. He previously served as president of the mortgage...

FHA Leads in Overdues.
October 1, 2004... Overall, delinquencies edged up a bit in the second quarter of this year, according to the MBA. But some loan types faired better - and worse - than others. The Federal Housing Admin-istration delinquency rate jumped up after cooling off...

Delinquencies BLIP Back Up in Second Quarter.(Brief Article)(Illustration)
October 1, 2004... 3 Months 12 Months Loan Type June 30 Earlier Earlier Overall 4.43% 4.53% 4.97% Prime 2.40% 2.26% 2.60% Subprime 10.04% 11.19% 12.99% FHA 12.52% ...

SPS Names New Chief Executive, Starts Bidding on Business.(Select Portfolio Servicing Inc. names Matt Hollingsworth )
October 1, 2004... Select Portfolio Servicing Inc. here has promoted its current president Matt Hollingsworth to be chief executive, replacing James Ozanne, who will remain chairman of the subprime servicing company formerly known as Fairbanks Capital Corp. ...

Countrywide Ranks #1 in B&C Servicing.
October 1, 2004... Countrywide Home Loans is now the largest subprime residential servicer in the nation, eclipsing such industry stalwarts as Household Finance and CitiFinancial. Moreover, Countrywide's ascension to the top of the subprime heap comes eight...

Top Subprime Subservicers at 6/30/04.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... (Dollars in Millions) (part 1 of 2) Rk Organization Name Location 1 Select Portfolio Servicing/Fairbanks Salt Lake City, UT 2 Option One Mortgage Corp. Irvine, CA 3 ...

TransUnion Buys AccuPost to Bolster Post-Closing Services.
October 1, 2004... TransUnion Settlement Solutions has acquired Denver-based AccuPost Corp., a technology and outsource services provider of post-closing solutions. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. TransUnion Settlement Solutions offers single-point...

Cenlar Will Use Fiserv For HELOC Servicing.(Home Equity Lines Of Credit)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Fiserv here said that Cenlar FSB, the nation's third largest subservicer of mortgage loans, will use the MortgageServ loan-servicing platform to support management of home-equity lines of credit. Recently, Cenlar announced that it was...

Political Season.(mortgage industry)
October 1, 2004... There's bad news and more bad news for mortgage companies in this election year season. First, the bad news. Despite a record high homeownership rate, neither presidential candidate - nor their respective parties - are talking much about...

Are Borrowers Overburdened?(consumer debt burdens, survey)
October 1, 2004... The analysts at Fitch Ratings recently studied consumer debt patterns to ascertain whether or not consumer debt burdens are too high. Among their findings: total consumer debt is currently at 113% of personal income, while the personal savings...

Why This Mortgage Party Might Go on For a Long Time.
October 1, 2004... For the heck of it, I went back and looked at the column I wrote in October of last year, a time when almost everyone in the industry assumed that the refinancing party of 2002-2003 was indeed finally over. What was I saying a year ago?...

Prepayment Speeds Start to Creep Up Again.(Federal National Mortgage Association)(Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp.)
October 1, 2004... The speeds of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage-backed securities recorded only modest gains in August despite mortgage rates that were about 25 basis points lower than in the previous month. Bear Stearns analyst Dale Westhoff said the...

Hybrids Now Dominate the ARM Market.(Adjustable Rate Mortgages)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages are becoming more popular with consumers and lenders, according to a Federal Reserve Board survey of senior loan officers. The July survey found that more than 50% of the respondent banks reported that...

Upgrades Outpace Downgrades for CMBS.(Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities)(forecasts of securities industry)
October 1, 2004... Two credit rating agencies are both seeing upgrades on commercial mortgage-backed securities loans exceed downgrades so far this year, pointing to continuing strength in the economy. Moody's Investors Service reports that CMBS turned in a...

Riley Buying LNR in $3.8 Billion Deal.(Riley Property Holdings)
October 1, 2004... LNR Prop. Corp., a real estate financing and development company, is being acquired by Riley Property Holdings for total consideration of about $3.8 billion, including the assumption of debt. LNR shareholders are to receive $63.10 per share...

IRS Will Examine REMIC Treatment.(real estate mortgage investment conduit)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Government tax experts are reconsidering the way losses on interest-only strips are treated when investors get hit with heavy refinancings and interest payments disappear. The current treatment has forced most individual investors away...

Office Markets Improving.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Office and industrial markets nationwide saw increased uptake of space in the second quarter, according to Colliers International, a commercial real estate manager. As much as 16.3 million square feet of office space was absorbed for the...

Snapshot: Office Absorption Rate.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... 1st Qtr: 13 million sq. ft. 2nd Qtr: 16.3 million sq. ft. Source: Colliers International Copyright 2004 Thomson Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. http://www.thomsonmedia.com http://www.mortgageservicingnews.com

CRIIMI Takes Loss On Loan Refinance.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Criimi Mae has refinanced a 7%, $45.7 million collateralized mortgage obligation and expects to take a financial statement loss, which will be recognized in the second quarter, of about $1.1 million as a result. The commercial mortgage...

Changing Market Complicates Hedging.(mortgage services)
October 1, 2004... With evidence mounting (not for the first time in recent years) that interest rates are starting to trend upward, the people who hedge mortgage servicing portfolios may be able to breathe a sigh of relief. But not for long. In some regards,...

Matrix Outsources Loan Administration.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Matrix Bancorp here reported strong earnings in the second quarter and also made some changes to its mortgage servicing strategy. Most notably, the company will no longer be servicing its portfolio in-house. "During the quarter, we...

Global Links Offers New Subscription REO Service.
October 1, 2004... Global Links Corp. has launched a new subscription website (www.R-E-info.net) designed to provide the mortgage industry with the most recent foreclosure and REO information. "Our company is focused on real estate information," said Frank...

New Resolution Could Help Counties Adopt E-Recording.
October 1, 2004... The National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws here has passed the Uniform Real Property Electronic Recording Act that would authorize records officials to take steps to accept and store records in electronic form provided that...

Retention Focus Shifts to Home Buyers.
October 1, 2004... It's estimated that 97% of the time, when an existing homeowner buys a new home, they obtain a mortgage for the purchase from someone other than the firm currently servicing their mortgage, according to Steve Kropper, senior vice president of...

Statelink Upgrades Online Tool.
October 1, 2004... Mortgage Solutions Inc., a Bankers Systems Inc. company here, has enhanced its StateLink service, an online compliance tool that provides continuously updated regulatory information. The service now includes valuable information concerning...

Lender Placed Insurance.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... What to do when a borrower is more risk tolerant than you are? In most cases, the mortgage lender actually has more at stake than the homeowner, because the mortgage on the home usually accounts for more than 50% of the home's value and often...

Partnership Aims to Automate MPPP Option.
October 1, 2004... The Flood Insurance Agency here has entered into an exclusive underwriting agreement with American Bankers Insurance Co. of Florida to introduce a new lender-placed flood insurance program, known as MPPPFlood.com. And Evan Hecht, the CEO...

TFIA Hires Two Veteran Managers.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... The Flood Insurance Agency has appointed two new managers at its headquarters here. Alisa T. Johnson, formerly of Computer Sciences Corp., will assume the role of agency underwriting manager. And Judy L. Marvel, also formerly of Computer...

Loan Protector Helps Lenders Cope with Added Pressure.(LoanProtector Insurance Services)
October 1, 2004... With increased regulatory scrutiny of loan servicing practices, companies such as LoanProtector Insurance Services that provide insurance tracking services are refining their businesses to meet increased demand. Ron Wiser, president of...

Proctor Retains Independence under Brown & Brown.(Proctor Financial Insurance)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... In April, Brown & Brown Inc. here acquired ownership of Proctor Financial Insurance, but the new owners are not changing much at the firm. Tom Proctor still runs the company and his management team remains intact in the firm's Troy, Mich.,...

Firm Seeks Fraud Insurance Patents.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Mortgage fraud prevention specialists The Prieston Group here has filed for patents for two of its key business processes. The patent applications cover its "Methods and System for Offering Fraud Insurance to Lenders." These applications...

Homeowners Insurance Costs Up Modestly.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... The cost of insuring homes is expected to rise by 2.8% in 2004, the smallest increase in five years, according to the Insurance Information Institute. The projected increase represents a substantial slowdown from 2003, when homeowners...

Insurance Report: 'Beware of Dogs'.
October 1, 2004... In recent years, there has been a lot of attention paid to mold damage and the insurance industry's response to this peril, but water damage is not the only thing that can restrict a homeowner's access to insurance. Pets, it turns out, are a...

Seattle FHLBank Wants to Sell Mortgage Securities.
October 1, 2004... The Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle is seeking regulatory approval to purchase mortgage-backed securities from member banks and thrifts and, for the first time, to sell MBS to outside investors. The proposal, if approved, would bring the...

Servicing People.
October 1, 2004... CALIFORNIA Irvine-Berkshire Mortgage Finance said that Rebekah Brown has joined the firm in the newly created role of senior vice president and general manager. Ms. Brown will work from the company's Irvine office. Ms. Brown joins...

Thomas Leads Chicago FHLBank.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... The Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago last week named investment banker Mike Thomas as its new president and chief executive officer. Mr. Thomas replaces mortgage partnership finance founder Alex Pollock, who resigned from the bank this...

Moody's Rates Aussie Servicers.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Moody's Investors Service has developed Australian methodology for servicer quality ratings. "Moody's intends to roll out SQ Ratings for all mortgage servicers that service loan portfolios backing Australian RMBS," said Moody's analyst Kim...

Report: Lenders Save 2 - 4% by Offshoring.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Offshoring and offshore outsourcing to India and other countries will ultimately reduce total direct loan origination and servicing costs by 2% to 4% by 2010, according to Tower Group here. However, Craig Focardi, author of the Tower Group...