Servicing

Mortgage servicers have gotten a reputation as the bad boys of foreclosure, putting people out of their homes and helping to power trends like a major American city (Detroit) losing 25% of its population in a decade.

The Federal Trade Commission has mailed 1,410 refund checks totaling an estimated $2.3 million to consumers allegedly defrauded by Home Assure LLC, a so-called mortgage foreclosure rescue service.

The New Democrat Coalition is calling for the wind-down of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and more reliance on a private mortgage market.

Citigroup expects to increase its loss mitigation staff by 500 new hires and take a one-time $50 million charge to comply with a federal consent order it signed to settle servicing and foreclosure shortcomings.

Citigroup has sold $10 billion of residential mortgages over the past five quarters as it continues to shrink its “bad bank” which is known as Citi Holdings.

Fannie Mae has declared war on so called "side agreements" that lenders have worked out with mortgage insurers to reduce their exposure to loan buybacks.

A pilot program designed to avoid Home Equity Conversion Mortgage delinquencies is gaining track among seniors in need of help at about the same time pending legislation calls for cuts of all funding for federally mandated reverse mortgage counseling.The FY 2011 Continuing Appropriations Act (H.R. 1473)—scheduled to pass Congress in mid-April—would eliminate $88 million in HECM counseling funds.

Sandler O'Neill on Monday reduced its price target on Genworth Financial to $13 a share (from $15), citing problems with the company's mortgage insurance division.

Legacy private-label RMBS market participants should take note: junior bondholders in certain vintages of low-rated nonagency residential mortgage-backed securities have in some cases ended up with a payoff due to slow liquidation timelines, and a “rare” servicing transfer risk has surfaced, according to two recent rating agency reports.

JPMorgan Chase plans to sell a $1.5 billion B-piece offering to Torchlight Investors, according to a Bloomberg report.