Servicing

To many in the industry, federal regulators just gave Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems a big stamp of approval.

As REITs emerge as a key source of agency MBS demand and become the marginal buyers for mortgage-backeds, spreads are still range-bound even though there is the news that the Treasury is unwinding its MBS portfolio, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysts in a report released Friday.

Gramercy Capital Corp., New York, has received a second extension on the maturity date, this time for two weeks, from the lenders on $791 million in loans, in order to negotiate an orderly transition of the properties securing the loans to those lenders.

If Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are going to be prohibited from purchasing mortgages tied to properties with private transfer fees, then the GSEs should create a database of these "hidden fees" fees to better protect lenders and consumers, according to the Consumer Mortgage Coalition.

A pair of the nation's largest mortgage servicing outfits are being eyed by a Seattle-based law firm for their practices regarding the use of forced-placed insurance.

Operational improvements are key to the mortgage servicing market. Today their business practices are being scrutinized like never before, yet robo-signing issues and regulatory compliance concerns only add to the basic need of being efficient.

A mortgage that is more than 60 days late might seem like an automatic disqualification for inclusion into a government-backed security. However, until last week, servicers were able to pool such loans into securities backed by the Government National Mortgage Association.

Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Rep. Brad Miller, D-N.C., late this week introduced a comprehensive bill that would force mortgage servicers to act in the best interests of investors while pressuring them to engage in loan modifications.

CoreLogic paid $75.8 million on Monday to repurchase 4 million shares of its common stock from its former parent company, First American Financial Corp., according to Securities and Exchange Commission disclosures.

Servicers looking for creative ways to stem losses might consider giving hard-up borrowers some old advice: it pays to advertise. Pays the mortgage, that is.