Kevin Wall: Borrower Engagement Is Key To The Loan Modification Process
PERSON OF THE WEEK: Kevin Wall is president of Santa Ana, Calif.-based First American Mortgage Services, a division of First American Title Insurance...
Regulator: Non-Bank Servicers Growing Too Fast
Benjamin Lawsky, superintendent of New York's Department of Financial Services, who last week halted Wells Fargo's planned sale of mortgage servicing rights (MSRs)...
HARP Hits 3 Million Mark
More than 3 million homeowners had refinanced their mortgages through the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) as of November, according to the Federal...
CFPB Seeks To Expand HMDA Data
In order to better monitor the mortgage market, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is planning to expand the information mortgage lenders are...
Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Settle With FHFA For $1.86 Billion
Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase & Co. will pay a combined $1.86 billion to settle claims brought by the Federal Housing Finance Agency...
BofA’s $8.5 Million Settlement With Investors Is Delayed
Five days after it was approved, a New York State judge has delayed a final ruling in Bank of America Corp.'s $8.5 billion...
FHA Widens Its Acceptance Of Electronic Signatures
The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) is making the transition to e-documents that will pave the way for the 'e-mortgage' to finally become a...
Paul Imura: Innovation Will Transform The Mortgage Banking Industry
PERSON OF THE WEEK: Paul Imura is chief marketing officer for ISGN Corp., an end-to-end provider of mortgage technology and services. He is...
CFPB Accuses PHH Corp. Of Mortgage Insurance Kickbacks
Although it will be up to an in-agency judge to determine exactly what laws have been violated, if any, and what the penalties...
Fed To Stay The Course: Tapering Continues
The Federal Reserve will stay the course, reducing monthly acquisitions of Treasury notes and mortgage-backed securities (MBS) by a total of $10 billion...
Fitch: Longer Liquidation Timelines Resulting In Wider RMBS Loss Severities
Longer liquidation timelines for bank-owned properties (REO) resulted in wider loss severities on residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) during the fourth quarter, Fitch Ratings...
Treasury Official: HARP Cut-Off Date Should Not Be Extended
The Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) should not be extended to allow borrowers with loans originated after the May 31, 2009, cut-off to...
Moody’s: Economic Factors Ensure REO-To-Rental Market’s Success
Although the real estate owned (REO)-to-rental market has likely hit its peak, a lower homeownership rate, rising rents, increasing property values and rising...
Wells Fargo Selling 2% Of Its Servicing Rights To Ocwen
Wells Fargo is selling 184,000 loans with a total principal balance of $39 billion, or about 2% of its residential mortgage servicing portfolio,...
Citigroup To Lay Off 950 Workers In Mortgage Servicing
After announcing last week that it was selling mortgage servicing rights (MSRs) for about 64,000 Fannie Mae residential first-mortgage loans with about $10.3...
Barry Hays: Servicers Need To Make Lemonade Out Of CFPB’s Lemons
PERSON OF THE WEEK: Barry Hays is co-founder and senior vice president of TeleVoice, a provider of call center solutions to the mortgage...
Unpredictability, Meet Stability: How Outsourcing Counters Cyclicality
The housing industry is once again playing its traditional, and significant, role in the overall economic recovery. In 2013, it accounted for 15%...
Report: Traders May Be Front Running Fannie, Freddie In Swaps Market
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is reportedly investigating whether Wall Street traders are front running government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie...
MBA Revises Down Its Origination Volume Forecast
During its annual conference and expo held in Washington, D.C., this past October, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) issued a rather gloomy forecast...
David Rasmussen: New Regulations Driving Innovation In The Mortgage Biz
David Rasmussen is senior vice president, operations, for Veros, a provider of risk management and collateral valuation services to the real estate industry....