Mortgage Servicing News articles from September 2002

Mortgage Servicing News archives from September 2002

Operating Gains Offset Losses.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
September 1, 2002... Not surprisingly, servicing costs rose last year as lenders struggled to manage the portfolio churning associated with the largest refinancing wave in history. But at the same time, operating profits apparently improved for servicers. A...

Chase Correspondents Keep Servicing Loans.(Chase Manhattan Mortgage)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
September 1, 2002... The refinancing market is so fierce that Chase Manhattan Mortgage here is seeing many of its correspondent customers hang onto their servicing rights. "Many of our 'flow' servicing customers are now opting to sell to us in bulk," said...

HUD Aims to Speed REO Sales Process.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... It looks like the Department of Housing and Urban Development is close to getting its accelerated claims disposition program off the ground. The new initiative is supposed to get the FHA out of the single-family property management...

Fitch Lowers CMBS Servicer.(Fitch Ratings, Bank of New York Asset Solutions)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
September 1, 2002... Fitch Ratings has downgraded Bank of New York Asset Solutions' primary and special servicer ratings, while affirming the company's master servicer rating. The downgrades - primary servicer rating to 'CPS3' from 'CPS2', and special servicer...

Top Residential Servicers at June 30, 2002.(Brief Article)(Illustration)(Statistical Data Included)
September 1, 2002... (Dollars in Millions) (part 1 of 2) Rank Organization Name, Location 1 Washington Mutual, Seattle, WA (1) 2 Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, Des Moines, IA 3 Chase Manhattan Mortgage, Edison, NJ 4 ...

With Prepayment Rates Climbing, Servicing Prices Are Crumbling.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... The recent resurgence in refinancings has been a boon to originators, but the servicing side of the industry is still singing the blues over the declining value of housing receivables. In a recent research report, MIAC Analytics, New York,...

MIAC Serves Nine of Top Ten.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
September 1, 2002... Mortgage Industry Advisory Co. says that nine of the nation's 10 largest servicers are now using MIAC Analytics, a tool for valuation of mortgage servicing rights. Combined, all of MIAC's clients manage about $2.9 trillion of underlying...

Randall E. Cox.(president, LandSafe Title Inc.)
September 1, 2002... Mr. Cox has been appointed as president of LandSafe Title Inc., a Plano, Texas-based provider of real estate information and closing services, and subsidiary of Countrywide Credit Industries. He recently served Lawyers Title Insurance Corp. as...

Low Rates Put Record in Play.(mortgage rates)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
September 1, 2002... At the beginning of this year, the 2001 milestone of $2 trillion in residential lending volume seemed like a record that was likely to stand for a long time. But now, with mortgage rates at a new low and first-half lending volume...

Hanover Capital Selling Ginnie Mae Portfolio.(Hanover Capital Partners)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Hanover Capital Partners, Edison, N.J., is auctioning $220 million in residential servicing rights owned by the Government National Mortgage Association. GNMA took control of the receivables from defaulted servicers. Hanover also is...

MSN/SPECIAL REPORT: Electronic Billing.
September 1, 2002... With more and more consumers going online, lenders are under pressure to offer electronic bill payment and presentment options to their borrowers and their business partners. Page 17 Copyright c 2002 Thomson Media. All Rights...

Sense of Deja Vu.(mortgage loan rates)(Brief Article)(Editorial)
September 1, 2002... The average contract rate on 30-year mortgage loans falls to a 30-year low. Refinancing as a share of loan origination surges past 50%. Economists revise their forecast for lending volume upward. Sound like a collection of headlines from last...

A Reminder About Hazard Insurance Claims.
September 1, 2002... Mr. Reitz is the director of insurance for GMAC-RFC and is responsible for pursuing claims on damaged properties. Mr. Reitz is a member of the board of directors for the National Association of Public Insurance Adjusters as well as the...

Mortgage Scene: Don't Fret, Servicing Values Will Return - Some Day.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
September 1, 2002... In a second-quarter conference call, the publicly-traded Countrywide Credit Industries noted that since the refi boom started last year, it has written down the value of its residential servicing rights by $4.4 billion. In the second quarter...

Speed Watch: Surge in July Prepayment Activity Suggests Start of New Refi Boom.(refinancing)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
September 1, 2002... Prepayment rates for agency mortgage-backed securities surged across the board in July in what the Bear Stearns Prepayment Commentary says is just the first stage of a new refinancing wave. Citing the time lag between mortgage rate...

Commercial Servicer: Has the Real Estate Downturn Bottomed Out? Prudential Thinks So.(Prudential Real Estate Investors)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
September 1, 2002... Commercial mortgage delinquencies are down, as per indications at the end of the second quarter. And at least one real estate market observer, Prudential Real Estate Investors, believes that the real estate downturn is bottoming out....

Credit Counselor: Document Fraud Proves Costly to Lenders, Consumers.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... When you look at movies and television today, computer technology can create amazing illusions. They are fun and harmless. If you are in the mortgage business, though, and the computer technology is being used to create the illusion of...

Prudential Gets Master Rating.(Prudential Asset Resources)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Prudential Asset Resources, Prudential Mortgage Capital's commercial loan servicing company, has been awarded a master servicer rating of 'CMS3' from Fitch Ratings. This rating will allow PAR to report and remit to CMBS trustees, and to...

Hedging: How Important Is a 'Natural' Production Hedge? Very, for Countrywide.(Countrywide Credit Industries Inc.)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
September 1, 2002... Suppose you were the CEO of a company that had, since the biggest refinancing boom in history began last year, suffered some $4.4 billion in cumulative losses to your servicing portfolio. Would you: A.) Buy a disguise and quietly slip...

AllRegs Adds Nine States to Its Compliance Database.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... AllRegs, an electronic publisher of mortgage industry information, has added nine new states to its online mortgage compliance product. That brings the product's coverage to 23 states, the company said. The new states are Connecticut,...

HNC Directors to Join Fair, Isaac As Merger Between Two Is Finalized.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... The merger between Fair, Isaac and Co. and HNC Software Inc. is now complete, Fair, Isaac has reported. The two companies have now received regulatory clearance for the merger plan. Stockholders approved the plan last month. Integration teams...

Freddie Adds 'Value at Risk' Analysis.(Federal Home Loan Mortgage)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Rob Dean, senior vice president of market risk oversight for Freddie Mac, told the audience at the FDIC's symposium, "The Rise of Risk Management: Basel and Beyond," that Freddie used an enhanced form of Value at Risk (VaR) calculation to...

ChoicePoint Offers Online Collections.(Debtor Discovery Quick Search)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... While most firms are focusing resources on online lending services, one firm is helping companies improve debt recovery through an online collections service. ChoicePoint has enhanced its Debtor Discovery product, a service used by...

Cenlar to Deploy Proacsys Business Automation Technology.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Cenlar FSB has licensed the Metasystem business process automation software developed by Proacsys LLC, here. The software will be used in conjunction with other existing technologies in Cenlar's mortgage loan subservicing operation. ...

London Bridge Will Integrate Data-Vision Tool.(document delivery service)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... London Bridge Group has decided to integrate Data-Vision Inc.'s electronic document delivery services into its e-commerce network. The BridgeLink network, part of the London Bridge product suite, is a Web-based, bi- directional data exchange...

Christopher L. Cagan.(First American Real Estate Solutions' director of research and analytics)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Mr. Cagan has been appointed director of research and analytics for First American Real Estate Solutions. He will be responsible for developing strategic media relationships and providing access to a comprehensive program that includes...

Mike May.(appointed by Federal Home Loan)(Mortgage Corp.)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Mr. May has been appointed as senior vice president and chief financial officer of single-family operations at Freddie Mac, McLean, Va. In his new capacity, Mr. May will be responsible for all single-family mortgage purchase and servicing...

Fitch Upgrades Wilshire Ratings.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Wilshire Credit Corp.'s residential servicer ratings were recently upgraded and expanded by Fitch Ratings. Fitch raised WCC's residential primary servicer ratings for subprime, home equity and high loan-to-value products to 'RPS2' from...

Electronic Bill Presentment Special Report.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... As consumers become more comfortable with electronic commerce, they are coming to expect more convenience from their creditors. Among the affluent, professional class of borrowers whose business lenders covet, just about everyone has become...

FKNC Helps Automate Payments.(Fort Knox National Co., mortgages)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... With a couple of recent partnerships, Fort Knox National Co. hopes to deepen its penetration into the market for electronic mortgage payment services. Most recently, the company announced a deal with Manage Your Mortgage, a provider of...

NetBank Earnings Up 300% in 2nd Quarter.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... NetBank Inc. here has reported second-quarter 2002 net income of $6 million, compared with $779,000 for the same period last year. The company said it earned $0.12 per share in the quarter vs. $0.03 for the year-ago quarter, representing an...

Utah Bank Chooses Digital Escrow.(Bank of American Fork, Digital Escrow Services)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Digital Escrow Services Inc. (DESi), an Internet-based administration facilitator of mortgage loan escrow transactions, has secured its first client. Utah-based Bank of American Fork has chosen the DESi system for online processing of...

Report: Consumers Don't Know About Online Payment Options.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
September 1, 2002... Nearly 60% of consumers who hold a mortgage but don't currently utilize electronic servicing opportunities do not even know if their lender offers e-servicing features, according to a report from Gomez Inc. However, Gomez's consumer...

More Lenders Going Online?(Brief Article)(Polling Data)(Statistical Data Included)
September 1, 2002... More mortgage firms appear to be turning to the Internet as a loan origination channel, according to figures compiled by Mortgage Servicing News. In the second quarter, 50 conventional and subprime lenders reported online production...

Gomez to start mortgage index.(Gomez Inc., performance index)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Gomez Inc., a technology firm specializing in Internet quality measurement, has announced that it will begin offering a new performance index aimed at the mortgage industry in September. According to Richard Longland, director of product...

Western Union Introduces new Web Phone Pay.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Western Union Commercial Services, a provider of electronic payment services, announced improvements to its Phone Pay check-drafting service earlier this year. The new service is called Web Phone Pay, and Western Union said it centralizes...

How e-Borrowers First Learned About Online Servicing.(electronic borrowers)(Brief Article)(Illustration)(Polling Data)(Statistical Data Included)
September 1, 2002... In a monthly statement: 46.8% At the website: 17.9% Don't remember: 11.4% In an e-mail: 8.7% Through customer service: 5.7% While waiting to speak to a customer service representative: 3.4% In...

Experian Says It Can Tell You If the Check Is Really in the Mail?(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Experian, the credit information provider, has introduced an electronic tool to help collectors determine if a customer's check is really "in the mail." Experian describes "ePIN+" as "a sophisticated Web-enabled data analysis solution...

KeyCorp Builds Lockbox Imaging.(offers Key2Image Lockbox, digital images of documents)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... KeyCorp announced it has launched a new lockbox imaging product that enables users to utilize and process images related to accounts receivable. The product is part of Key's multimillion dollar upgrade of its lockbox platform, the company...

1st Tennesse Enjoys Cross-Sell Potential.(First Tennessee Natioanl Corp.)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... First Tennessee's reorganization of its mortgage operation, which places a new emphasis on cross- selling to the bank's customers, has resulted in a "more balanced business mix" that reduces rate sensitivity, according to analysts at Sandler...

Fla. County Reaches FEMA Flood Accord.(Monroe County, Federal Emergency Management Agency, compliance with National Flood Insurance Program)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Monroe County has reached an agreement with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to initiate a plan that will bring the county back into compliance with the National Flood Insurance Program. The county, which lays primarily in the...

Servicing People.(multiple assignments and promotions)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... CALIFORNIA Agoura Hills- Tom Stannard has been appointed as vice president of sales and marketing at Lenders Financial Services, a provider of default-related outsource management services to the banking and mortgage industries. Mr....

Fiserv Leaders Take Pledge.(Les Muma, Kenneth Jensen, personal responsibility for financial report accuracy)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... The chief executive and chief financial officer of Fiserv Inc. were among the first corporate leaders to sign pledges taking personal responsibility for the accuracy of sales and earnings data that their firms report. The Securities and...

A Reminder About Hazard Insurance Claims.
September 1, 2002... Further, the mortgagee should remind the insurer of its right to be named on any loss drafts that are issued to the borrower. In the same notice of claim to the insurer, the mortgagee should specifically request a complete copy of the policy,...