Mortgage Servicing News articles from September 2003

Mortgage Servicing News archives from September 2003

Bulk Market Rebounds?(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Is the buy/sell market for bulk residential servicing rights coming back to life? It's been an ugly 12 months for brokerage firms that rely on the bulk market for business. Servicing rights have been running off so fast that selling...

Larry Litton, Jr.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Mr. Litton has been promoted to chief operating officer of Litton Loan Servicing, a subsidiary of C-BASS, New York. In this capacity, Mr. Litton will have expanded responsibility for directing the day-to-day operations of all key functions...

Warning Signs Crop Up.
September 1, 2003... While a "freshening effect" from refinancing activity has helped bring delinquency rates down for prime and subprime loans, a mortgage data firm here sees early warning signs of trouble for some markets. The good news is that...

Serious Delinquencies for Subprime Loans Originated in 2002.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Utah 4.77% Mississippi 4.23% Georgia 3.57% South Carolina 3.29% U.S. national avg. 1.86% Source: LoanPerformance. Seriously delinquent defined as 90-plus days past due. Copyright 2003...

Firms Struggle for Growth.
September 1, 2003... The second quarter brought little relief to most of the nation's "mega" servicers as mortgage rates hit a five-decade low and firms struggled with impairment charges and the run-off of receivables. But there are new signs that the...

Top Residential Servicing Gainers in 2q '03.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... (Dollars in Millions) (part 1 of 2) Rank Organization Name Location 1 Homestar Mortgage Services Paramus, NJ 2 Ivanhoe Financial, Inc. Orlando, FL 3 RBC Mortgage ...

MSN/Special Report.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Electronic Bill Presentment More and more consumers are receiving and paying bills online. Increasingly, lenders need to offer this service to both borrowers and business partners to keep up with emerging technological expectations. Page...

MSR Values Heading Up.
September 1, 2003... After two years of steadily falling values for mortgage servicing rights, the recent rise in interest rates seems to be shoring up prices and setting the stage for a comeback in the MSR market. With the average 30-year mortgage rate...

Southern Financial Merger with Essex Spins Off Subservicing Unit.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... When Southern Financial Bancorp here announced a merger with Essex Bancorp, the deal contained a provision to spin-off Essex's subservicing unit, Essex Home Mortgage Servicing Corp., better known as LoanCare. Under the stock-for-stock...

Ocwen Returns To Profitability.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Ocwen Financial Corp. reported net income in the second quarter of 2003 of $4.1 million, or $0.06 per share, compared to a net loss of $40 million, or $0.75 cents per share, in the second quarter of last year. Ocwen's chairman and CEO,...

Cenlar Execs Get Fannie Certification.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Michael Young, chairman of Cenlar FSB, announced that five members of Cenlar's investor accounting staff have received professional certification from Fannie Mae. MBS certification was awarded to Ray Ashman, Mrdula Kenkre, Michael...

MERS Adds Commercial Loans.
September 1, 2003... MERS Commercial has officially opened for business, with a $300 million loan closed by Bank of America last month. The electronic loan registry system - designed for use by issuers, master servicers, custodians, originators and special...

MERS and EDS Renew Contract.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... EDS has renewed a pair of contracts valued at over $50 million for information technology and business process outsourcing services with Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc., better known as MERS. "We are working with EDS to move...

Standard & Poor's Studies Servicing Fees.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Standard & Poor's has reiterated its minimum servicing fees for mortgage loans pooled into S&P-rated securities. At the same time, however, S&P said it is "currently conducting a study to determine if lower servicing fees can be accepted...

Your Turn to Shine.
September 1, 2003... For the past three years, mortgage companies have been reporting record earnings - on the strength of loan origination revenue. During that time, mortgage servicing rights have steadily and dramatically declined in value as falling rates and...

Maintain Uniform Credit Reporting Standards.
September 1, 2003... David Moskowitz is general counsel for Wells Fargo Home Mortgage. This viewpoint is an excerpt from his recent congressional testimony regarding the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Marketplace experience shows that consumers expect the...

A Post Refi Boom Environment: Now the 'Fun' Begins.
September 1, 2003... For the past several months I've been contemplating writing a column about how the mortgage and housing markets have become a sustainable industry onto themselves. By that I mean the time has come that housing and mortgages are no longer...

Despite Higher Rates, Prepayment Speeds Still Accelerate in July Data.
September 1, 2003... Prepayment rates for agency mortgage-backed securities rose to "unprecedented heights" in the July reporting period, according to the Bear Stearns Prepayment Commentary. The record speeds extended even to the lowest MBS coupons, and two...

Cendant Weathers Impairment.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Cendant Corporation, citing strength from its mortgage origination business, earned $0.37 per share from continuing operations in the second quarter, up 61% from the same period a year earlier. Cendant said it experienced an 89% increase...

Citigroup Lands Big FHLB Contract.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Citigroup Global Transaction Services has been appointed custodian for $300 billion in assets serviced by seven of the 12 Federal Home Loan Banks, collectively representing what the company says is "one of the largest such appointments in the...

New South Renews Contract with FIS.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... New South Federal Savings Bank, Birmingham, Ala., the 34th ranked subprime servicer in the country according to the Quarterly Data Report, has renewed its contract with Fidelity Information Services to use its software and services. As...

Hedge Funds Lead Buyers of Prepayment Derivatives.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Hedge funds have stepped up as the first buyers of the new mortgage prepayment-based derivatives being offered twice monthly by Goldman Sachs. Executives at Goldman Sachs told NMN that large mortgage servicers closely observed the first...

Don't Be Lulled by 14 Basis Point Average Monthly Change in Rates.
September 1, 2003... Between April 1971 and June 2003, what was the size of the typical monthly change, in basis points, of the average 30-year, U.S. fixed-rate mortgage? Our colleagues at Yahoo Finance recently asked that question of Internet surfers. ...

Roundup: Fair Isaac Acquires NAREX for Collections.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Fair Isaac Corp., provider of credit analytics and decision technology, will acquire NAREX, a provider of analytic services for collections and recovery, in a $10 million cash transaction. The Golden, Colo.-based firm will become a new...

FNIS Reports Record Earnings.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Fidelity National Information Solutions booked $142.3 million in revenue during the 2nd quarter of 2003, up from $92.1 million a year earlier. The company reported net earnings of $15.3 million for the quarter, up 68% from the $6.2 million in...

LandAmerica Ups Dividend.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... LandAmerica Financial Group here has increased its dividend by three cents to $0.40 per share, the company announced. "This dividend rate increase reflects our strong earnings and cash flow for the first half of 2003, our positive outlook...

Wilshire Reports Higher Net.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Wilshire Financial Services Group reported net income after taxes of $1.4 million in the second quarter, or $0.08 per basic share, up from $300,000, or $0.02 per basic share, in the same period last year. The increase in net income for the...

Caruso Heads Committee.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... First American Default Technologies, a member of the First American family of companies, has appointed Robert Caruso, executive vice president of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, as chairman of its steering committee for 2003-2004. Mr. Caruso,...

Daniel Kavanaugh.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Nationwide Appraisal Services, Pittsburgh, has promoted Mr. Kavanaugh to the position of president and chief operating officer. Associated with the mortgage lending business since 1975, Mr. Kavanaugh has held positions with Beneficial Mortgage,...

Master Servicers Get More Scrutiny from Fitch.
September 1, 2003... The role of servicer in commercial mortgage transactions has come a long way since the Resolution Trust Corp. days of the early '90s. With the increasing complexity of commercial mortgage deals and the growth of the commercial...

Losses Remain Low for CMBS.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... A study of loan losses on commercial mortgage-backed securities by Fitch Ratings finds that the overall dollar losses as of year-end 2002 in the transactions studied amount to only 0.17% of the total loan balances in Fitch-rated conduit, large...

Retail Loans Hold Up as Other Property Types Falter.
September 1, 2003... Delinquencies increased on commercial mortgage-backed securities loans in all property types, except retail, for the second quarter, Fitch Ratings reports. Loan balances on U.S. CMBS loans delinquent for a period of 60 days or longer rose...

Shortfalls Plague Some CMBS Deals.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Moody's Investors Service has identified unanticipated interest shortfalls as an emerging problem for the commercial mortgage-backed securities industry. This has led to some downgrades and watch listing and more are expected. In CMBS...

NorthMark Deal Makes Big Servicer.
September 1, 2003... NorthMarq Capital is acquiring the commercial mortgage financing and commercial mortgage servicing businesses of Legg Mason Real Estate Services in a deal that NorthMarq says will create the third-largest commercial mortgage banking...

LOGS Financial Services Expands into Subprime.
September 1, 2003... LOGS Financial Services, a default management and outsourcing provider, is expanding its portfolio of services beyond default management and into the subprime, chattel mortgage and other nontraditional loan products. The chattel market,...

OCC Pre-empts Georgia Lending Law.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has issued an order to pre-empt Georgia's anti-predatory lending law and the regulator of national banks also issued proposed guidelines for pre-empting other state lending laws. "It is...

Roundup: Four More Counties Add Electronic Recording.
September 1, 2003... Four new counties have implemented technology from Ingeo Systems to accept digitally prepared lien release documents for official recording. Washoe, Nev., Cook, Ill., San Bernardino, Calif., and Milwaukee, have installed the eRecord...

Ingeo Wins Outsource Contracts.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Ingeo Systems has recently signed contracts with several outsource service providers to the mortgage industry and with a national mortgage lender. Ingeo said it has executed contracts with Peelle Management Corp., DOCX, American Release...

Sysdome Enhances Fraud Tools.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Sysdome, a provider of fraud prevention tools to the mortgage industry, has released version 5.0 of its Electronic Loan Review fraud detection software. ELR v5.0 is an automated system that checks borrower and loan information at the...

MortgageTree Picks BlitzDocs.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... MortgageTree Lending here will be using BlitzDocs, a product from Advectis Inc., to offer a paperless system for originating and storing mortgage loan information. In its press release, MortgageTree noted that a typical mortgage loan can use...

Special Report: Electronic Bill Presentment.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Electronic bill presentment is a technology that is gaining traction in the mortgage industry. As with any business, lenders are looking for ways to better serve their customers, and with an increasing number of borrowers looking to simplify...

Study Calls for Standardization of XML-Based Bill Payment Systems.
September 1, 2003... The financial services industry appears to be lagging behind other industries in embracing extensible markup language standards for payment-related demands of electronic commerce, according to a recent study from The TowerGroup here. But...

Industry Awakens to B2B Side of EBP.
September 1, 2003... The acceptance of electronic commerce is creating unprecedented business-to-business opportunities throughout the mortgage industry, according to Cindy Bird, president of First American Default Technologies. Among these opportunities is...

MoneyGram Markets EBP in Asia.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... MoneyGram Payment Systems here has introduced a new pricing model for money transfers sent from the U.S. to countries served in Asia. The company said the pricing is a "simple, value pricing" to facilitate money transfers from the U.S. and...

Xpedite Launches SecureMail Product for Lenders.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Xpedite, a business unit of Ptek Holdings Inc. and a provider of automated multimedia messaging services, has launched secureMAIL, a secure e-mail solution for the automated delivery of personalized, variable information. The company...

Venture Reduces Collection Calls.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Venture Encoding says that its mail tracking service can help mortgage servicers reduce collection calls by up to 12%. The company said its mail tracking service eliminates the need for some collection calls by electronically monitoring...

Congress Seems Poised to Make Credit Reporting Rules Permanent.
September 1, 2003... The House Financial Services Committee has approved a bill that permanently extends the Fair Credit Reporting Act and requires lenders to disclose credit scores to mortgage applicants. The committee approved the bill by a 61-3 vote and...

High Foreclosure Rate Sparks New Law in Ohio.
September 1, 2003... Cleveland Heights took its place alongside Dayton, Toledo and Cleveland on the list of Ohio cities with anti-predatory lending legislation recently, as it passed an ordinance putting limits on certain practices for high-cost home loans. ...

Fairbanks Capital Questions Story Told by Former CEO in TV Interview.
September 1, 2003... A former president of Fairbanks Capital, Mark Finston, has gone on record criticizing the company's aggressive growth strategy and saying he advised the board about his concerns, but a spokesperson for the company said Mr. Finston left...

PMI Group Takes Control of FGIC.
September 1, 2003... An investor group led by mortgage insurance giant PMI Group has agreed to buy Financial Guaranty Insurance Co. here from General Electric Capital for $2.16 billion. After the deal closes, PMI will own 42% of FGIC, a top player in the...

Top Residential Servicers at June 30, 2003.
September 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 ...

Servicing People.
September 1, 2003... CALIFORNIA Irvine-Lewis Allen has joined Option One Mortgage Corp. as chief appraiser. In this role, he will oversee the daily operation of the company's appraisal department. With more than 20 years of management and real estate...

MICA Elects UGC Chief as New Prez.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... The Mortgage Insurance Companies of America has elected the head of United Guaranty Corp., Greensboro, N.C., as its new president and chief executive officer. UGC chief William V. Nutt Jr. will serve a two-year term at MICA, a trade group...