Servicing

The New York Attorney General is investigating the proposed $8.5 billion Bank of America settlement with Bank of New York Mellon Corp. over residential MBS trusts, seeking client information from more than 20 companies including Goldman Sachs, BlackRock, and others.

Residential application volume declined for the fourth consecutive week -- this time by just over 5% for the week ending July 8, according to new figures compiled by the Mortgage Bankers Association.

When Bank of America Corp. said it would unload the servicing of its most troubled Countrywide mortgages as part of a proposed settlement with bondholders, the surprise wasn't that investors doubted the bank could do the job.

A House Financial Services subcommittee late Tuesday approved six bills that would rein in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac but that fall short of comprehensive changes to the housing finance system.

"Persistent weakness" in the housing market and the downside risk of further price declines is one of the major factors cited by the Federal Reserve's monetary policy committee for the slowdown in the pace of the economic recovery in recent months.

The largest single-family mortgage REIT, Annaly Capital Management Inc., was the most actively traded stock on the NYSE Tuesday morning, the day after it announced the pricing of a secondary stock offering of about 120 million shares.

Continued volatility is leading to investor fatigue regarding the three monoline mortgage insurance companies and those investors are starting to believe that unless better progress is made towards profitability, further capital raises could be needed, a preview of second quarter earnings from the analysts at Keefe, Bruyette and Woods declared

Roughly $25 billion of Freddie Mac servicing rights that once belonged to the now defunct Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp. could hit the market by summer’s end according to officials close to the matter.

REO Allegiance launched mobile device applications for its property preservation contractors to monitor communication and provide real-time updates when they’re out in the field.

When it comes to the securitization market for residential loans, hope springs eternal that some day the private sector will take a large bite out of the government-controlled MBS market.