Mortgage Servicing News articles from September 2001

Mortgage Servicing News archives from September 2001

Cost Control Lifts Servicing Income.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2001... By holding down direct costs and taking advantage of low portfolio turnover, mortgage lenders were able to increase their loan-servicing profitability last year, according to a study conducted by the Mortgage Bankers Association of America....

GMAC Hits $100B in Commercial Loans.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
September 1, 2001... GMAC Commercial Mortgage (GMACCM), the commercial real estate loan servicing subsidiary of GMAC Commercial Holding Corp. (GMACCH), has seen its servicing portfolio cross the $100 billion mark, exceeding $107 billion. This is nearly...

Refi Pace Strong Despite 'Burnout'.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
September 1, 2001... Refinancing activity tapered off this summer, but not by much. Since May, refinancing has accounted for between 40% and 50% of weekly loan application volume week after week, after consistently exceeding 50% during the first four months of...

MERS Registers 5 Million Loans.(Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2001... Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems has registered more than five million loans on its system for tracking the ownership interests in mortgage loans and servicing rights. Moreover, new loan registrations are averaging 13,000 per day,...

Slowdown Starting To Hit Subprime Loans and Commercial Real Estate.
September 1, 2001... At the end of last year, one in six subprime mortgage borrowers was behind on their payments, according to the Mortgage Information Corporation, San Francisco. And that could be just the tip of the iceberg, as evidence continues to grow...

SUBPRIME DELINQUENCIES CLIMB.(Illustration)
September 1, 2001... % of Loans Seriously Delinquent Dec. 2000: 6.10% June 2000: 5.00% Dec. 1999: 5.06% Source: MIC. Seriously delinquent is defined as loans more than 90-days late or in foreclosure. Copyright c 2001...

WaMu Faces Servicing Suit.(Washington Mutual Bank)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2001... Charging that recently acquired Bank United improperly charged late fees to mortgage servicing customers, a law firm has filed a class action suit against Washington Mutual. The complaint, which has not been certified, alleges that...

Allison Unveils New Ownership.
September 1, 2001... Allison Payment Systems, an Indianapolis-based printing company that provides billing services to many mortgage lenders, underwent a significant ownership change last week as five members of its management team acquired the shares of three...

Correction.(Correction Notice)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2001... Clayton National changed its name to First Madison Services Inc. on July 1. In last month's edition, this newspaper incorrectly stated that the servicing company, based in Shelton, Conn., was known as the Clayton Group. Copyright c 2001...

Pedestal Prepares To Hold Online Auctions of Servicing Rights.(Pedestal Inc.)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2001... Pedestal Inc. has reported that it plans to host live, online auctions of mortgage servicing rights on its website. The company currently hosts live online auctions of whole loan packages on its website and the servicing rights technology...

HanoverTrade Does 1st Servicing Deal.
September 1, 2001... HanoverTrade.com has brokered the sale of servicing rights on a $100 million portfolio of Freddie Mac and private investor loans for a Southeastern financial institution. The transaction marked the first servicing deal for the firm's new...

Delinquency Management.
September 1, 2001... Now is an appropriate time to review how well prepared you are for the next downturn in commercial - and residential - real estate markets. After all, that downturn may be right around the corner. We hope the economic consensus, which seems...

Innovative Servicing Technology: Smart Enough to Sustain Homeownership Gains?
September 1, 2001... Mr. Hornburg is the executive director of the Research Institute for Housing America, Arlington, Va. His viewpoint is a synthesis of ideas that emerged from a conference earlier this year. The 1990's revolution in underwriting, product...

Mortgage Scene: Does the Correspondent Lending Channel Face a Time Bomb?
September 1, 2001... There are two ways to get ahead in the mortgage banking business: (1) open a ton of branches in promising markets from coast to coast, hire talented managers, train your people and give them the tools and technology to close as many loans as...

Speed Watch: Reports Show Deceleration of Mortgage Prepayment Speeds in July.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
September 1, 2001... Now that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are both on a calendar-month reporting cycle, prepayment rates for agency mortgage-backed securities are converging. According to the Bear Stearns Prepayment Commentary, speeds for Fannie Mae and Ginnie...

Charter One Names Executives To Lead Realigned Servicing Operations.
September 1, 2001... Charter One Mortgage Corp. has named Michael Stank as senior vice president and business banking manager and Donald Courtney senior vice president, customer service and escrow administration. The moves are part of a realignment of the...

Tidalwave Acquires Seasons' Servicing.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2001... Tidalwave Holdings here has acquired the assets of Seasons Mortgage Group, Richmond, Va., including its servicing operation and subservicing contracts on $100 million of residential loans. The SMG servicing platform managed loan...

Hedging: BMA Prepayment Tool Grows Popular in MSR Valuations.(Bond Market Association)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2001... While Bloomberg Medians have long been a widely used measure of mortgage prepayment activity, the Bond Market Association's new version of its projected prepayment models may be a better tool in valuing and hedging mortgage servicing rights,...

Despite Weakening Economy, MBS Performed Well in Second Quarter.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
September 1, 2001... Despite overall weakness in the asset-backed securities market during the second quarter, rating agency Standard & Poor's said that residential and commercial mortgage-backed securities fared well. In the residential mortgage-backed...

At a glance:.(Illustration)
September 1, 2001... Second quarter S&P Servicer Rating actions Raised: 9 Lowered: 2 New: 4 Copyright c 2001 Thomson Financial. All Rights Reserved.

S&P Rates Two CRE Servicers In Europe.(Standard and Poor's Corp.)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2001... Standard & Poor's has named Credito Fondiario e Industriale SpA a select commercial loan servicer for Italy, and GMAC Commercial Mortgage Servicing of Ireland Ltd. a select commercial loan servicer for Ireland. The rating agency admits...

Commercial Servicer: Slumping Real Estate Markets Pose Challenge to Commercial Servicers.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2001... The commercial real estate sector has been hit with a slew of bad news in the second quarter. Vacancies have risen (particularly in some office markets with a high technology concentration), rents are slowing down and delinquencies are up....

Fitch Introduces 'Large Loan Index'.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2001... Fitch has introduced the "Fitch Large Loan Index" (FLLEX), a scoring system developed to give investors an indication about the credit risk of individual commercial mortgage loans within large loan transactions rated by Fitch. As part of...

Commercial: Criimi Mae Hopes Website Will Foster Growth in CMBS.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2001... Making a move towards Internet-based servicing, Criimi Mae Services, Criimi Mae's mortgage-servicing associate company, has launched a website (www.criimimaeservices.com) for participants in the commercial mortgage and Commercial...

Commercial: Report Shows Rising Office Vacancies As Demand Dries Up For New Space.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2001... Net absorption in the office sector fell 7.4 million square feet in the first quarter, one among a number of signs of decline in the sector, according to research released by Grubb & Ellis (G & E), a commercial real estate services firm. ...

Snapshot: Office Vacancies.(Illustration)
September 1, 2001... 4th Q 2000: 8.86% 1st Q 2001: 10.34% mid-2002 est: 11.5-12% Source: Grubb & Ellis Copyright c 2001 Thomson Financial. All Rights Reserved.

Charter Adds CDO Modeling Feature.(Standard and Poor's Corp.)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2001... Charter Research, a division of Standard & Poor's, has added a Collateralized Debt Obligation (CDO) modeling facility to its CONQUEST product which is used in analyzing Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities (CMBS). The new feature will...

Foreclosure Watch: Research Report Anticipates Increase in Bankruptcy.(SMR Research Corp.)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2001... A consumer lending research firm expects personal bankruptcy filings to grow substantially this year, with long-term trends and high consumer debt contributing to the problem. SMR Research, Hackettstown, N.J., predicts that bankruptcy...

SMR Prediction for Bankruptcy Filings in 2001:.(Illustration)
September 1, 2001... Low point: 14% rise Mid-point: 21% rise High point: 28% rise Copyright c 2001 Thomson Financial. All Rights Reserved.

Credit Counselor: Counseling Requirement in Bankruptcy Bill May Discourage Filings.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2001... Last month, we discussed Freddie Mac's report showing that borrowers who received pre-purchase home counseling on average had a 19% lower delinquency rate. The federal government has applied similar logic in its pending bankruptcy reform...

Allied Adds Fraud Detection To Point-of-Sale Loan System.(Allied Mortgage Capital Corp.)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2001... Allied Mortgage Capital Corp. has built a new fraud detection system into its point-of-sale technology. "We want to be proactive and prevent a fraudulent loan from going all the way through the loan process before it might be caught," said...

Technology: Freddie Posts Preliminary Guidelines for Electronic Loans.(Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp.)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2001... Freddie Mac has published its preliminary specifications for electronic single-family mortgages. The GSE has made the document available on its website (www.freddiemac.com/singlefamily) as a PDF file. The preliminary specifications are...

Equifax Spins Off Payment Services.(Certegy Inc.)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2001... Equifax Inc., one of the three major credit repositories, will spin-off Certegy Inc., formerly known as Equifax Payment Services. The company's board of directors approved the move on June 11. The spin-off was accomplished through a...

Regulatory Watch: Risk Based Capital Rules May Aid Two Triple-A Rated Insurance Firms.
September 1, 2001... Two mortgage insurance firms, GE Capital Mortgage Insurance and United Guaranty, appear to be "winners" in the wake of new risk-based capital rules for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Then again, maybe not. Industry officials, including MI...

OCC Concerned About Falling Home Values.
September 1, 2001... The Comptroller of the Currency is advising national banks to stress test their mortgage portfolios because house appreciation could take a nose dive if the economy continues to slow over the next two quarters. Deputy Comptroller Nancy...

Using Technology to Manage Risk Special Report.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2001... With the economy slowing down and loan delinquencies creeping up, lenders are turning to technology to help take the sting out of missed payments. Traditionally, it is estimated that while delinquent loans only account for about 3% of a...

RBMG Goes Online with BITB Collections and Loss Mitigation System.
September 1, 2001... MSTD Inc., an application service provider for the residential mortgage servicing and unsecured credit industries, has now gone online with its BackInTheBlack collections and loss mitigation product. Resource Bancshares Mortgage Group...

First Nationwide Opens New Retention Office in Montana.
September 1, 2001... First Nationwide Mortgage Corp. has announced plans to open a portfolio retention unit at its current facility in Great Falls, Mont. this fall. "As our customer portfolio continues to grow past the one million mark, this new portfolio...

Weichert Offers Force Placement.(Weichert Insurance Agency Inc.)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2001... Weichert Insurance Agency is offering forced placement of insurance for mortgage lenders. For the past ten years, Weichert has been offering a blanket program to banks and mortgage companies through Balboa Life and Casualty. Forced...

New Software Module Helps Lenders Manage Runoff.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2001... To help mortgage servicers increase portfolio retention in a challenging interest-rate environment, Selectica says it can provide complex, yet flexible technology solutions that help both bankers and brokers. "The role that Selectica...

GE Puts Loan Workout Optimizer On Its Servicing Website.(GE Capital Mortgage Services Inc.)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2001... GE Mortgage Insurance has launched its first online workout approval system, e-LMO Fast Track. It will incorporate the company's loss mitigation optimizer technology into its MI Servicer platform which was launched in February. GE...

Factual DataCorp. Offers Fraud Tool On Stewart Platform.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2001... Factual Data Corp. will provide mortgage credit services and identify theft/fraud protection services as part of Stewart Mortgage Information's bundled service platform. Stewart's customers can request one-, two- and three- repository...

Safeco Uses Internet To Reduce 'False Placement'.
September 1, 2001... If technology developments in the past were all about increased functionality, many of today's are about making systems faster and more accurate. Safeco Select, an insurance provider for mortgage lenders, is a case in point. Safeco helps...

Deals Push Princeton's Volume To 600,000 Bills Per Month.
September 1, 2001... Princeton eCom, an online billing firm, said that it presented 600,000 bills and processed more than 3.5 million payments per month during the second quarter while strengthening its product line with the acquisition of Quicken Bill Manager...

Real Data Offers 'Matrix' Software.
September 1, 2001... Real Data here has released Matrix, a software package designed to optimize the comparison and correct matching of high-volume property-related transactions against a customer's property databases, the company said. The software is...

MERS Prepares To Track Commercial Loans.
September 1, 2001... A joint initiative of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) and the Commercial Mortgage Securities Association (CMSA) working toward the implementation of the Mortgage Electronic Registry System (MERS) for the commercial mortgage sector has...

Servicing People.
September 1, 2001... CALIFORNIA Santa Ana- First American Corp. has made two new senior level appointments to its ranks. Kenneth D. DeGiorgio has been named as vice president and associate general counsel and Linda L. Saunders has been named as vice president...