Servicing

Among the hot topics Brent Taggart, a senior vice president at Green River Capital, anticipates and wants to hear more about at the MBA’s servicing conference is short sales.

The robo-signing fiasco only highlighted the fact that having the paperwork in order is equally critical for lenders, servicers, investors and borrowers.Mike Wileman, president and CEO of Orion Financial Group Inc., Southlake, Texas, is one of many industry veterans who see paperwork accuracy and transparency as a powerful factor that is affecting how the industry is and ultimately will conduct business in the future.

Fourth-quarter delinquency rate data show slight overall improvements and reiterate the drivers of change are staunchly local and not that promising for the near future.

The White House may want to pull the plug on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but it plans on keeping the Federal Home Loan Bank System alive, albeit at reduced capacity.

The Federal Housing Administration has landed two big lenders to adopt its principal reduction program which helps underwater homeowners refinance into new FHA-insured loans.

Mortgage insurer Triad Guaranty, which is in "wind down" mode, earned $27 million in the fourth quarter and $132 million for the full year, making it (so far) the only publicly traded MI in the U.S. to post positive results in 4Q.

Sperry Associates Federal Credit Union this week sold The Inn at The Blue in East Marion, N.Y., for $2.02 million, in an REO sale.

MERSCORP, the electronic mortgage registry system, said it will propose a rule to stop its member/users from foreclosing in its name.

The Comptroller of the Currency is preparing to levy civil money penalties against some of the nation's largest servicers for violations of state and local foreclosure laws.

The national residential delinquency rate fell by 10% in the fourth quarter to 8.22%, the lowest reading in two years, according to figures released Thursday morning by the Mortgage Bankers Association.