Servicing

The residential mortgage division of Ally Financial earned $123 million in the fourth quarter, a slight decline from 3Q but a major improvement over the same period last year when it lost $3.3 billion.

Impac Mortgage Holdings, a nonbank and former alt-A lender that survived the housing bust, has big plans for the future: not only does it plan to fund $1.2 billion in loans this year, it's anticipating that 80% of it will come from loan brokers.

Fitch Ratings has downgraded 759 speculative grade bonds in 405 nonconforming U.S. residential mortgage-backed securities transactions to “Dsf,” indicating they have taken principal writedowns.

December was the best month of 2010 for private mortgage insurance companies in terms of primary new insurance written, and the second worst of the year in terms of the cure/default ratio.

The 'Great Recession' and housing bubble have taken their toll on U.S. home owners. According to government figures released Monday morning, the nation's overall home ownership rate fell to 66.5% in the fourth quarter, the lowest reading since 1998.

The U.S. Attorney General is investigating alleged violations of regulations that protect active-duty military personnel from high mortgage interest rates and foreclosures.

Fannie Mae purchased $87.6 billion of mortgages from its seller/servicers in December, its best purchase month of the year and yet another sign that loan production remained strong in the fourth quarter.

The Treasury Department has revamped its short sale program by easing income restrictions and documentation requirements for homeowners facing foreclosure. The changes are effective Tuesday, Feb. 1.

The Warren Group reports an increase in bankruptcy filings in 2010 compared to 2009 in Massachusetts and Connecticut, which ultimately reflect the region's unstable economic welfare and dissolves hopes for a fast path towards recovery.

Despite declines in the hardest-hit areas, according to the RealtyTrac 2010 Year-End Metropolitan Foreclosure Market Report, foreclosure activity increased from 2009. And the main culprit is unemployment.