Servicing

The Mortgage Bankers Association wants the Federal Reserve to ease up on its compensation rules allowing production managers who originate loans to share in the profits of their branch office.

The five largest servicers of residential mortgages – including Bank of America and Wells Fargo & Co. – may be the first to settle with 50 state attorneys general who are investigating foreclosure practices, according to combined press reports.

PennyMac Mortgage Investment Trust, Calabasas, Calif., a vulture fund that invests in troubled loans, declared a cash dividend of 42 cents a share for the fourth quarter.

November was the best month of 2010 so far for the nation's private mortgage insurers in terms of new insurance written, while it was the second best for new applications. Furthermore, the cure/default ratio was back above 90% for the first time in three months, according to data from the Mortgage Insurance Cos. of America.

The Eleventh Federal Home Loan District Cost of Funds Index declined by eight basis points between October and November, resuming its downward movement after one month where there was virtually no change.

Moody's late last week downgraded $729 million of payment option ARM securities issued by Washington Mutual, Seattle, which is now the property of JPMorgan Chase.

The Council of Federal Home Loan Banks has hired former Fannie Mae executive David Jeffers to be its executive vice president of policy and public affairs.

Bank of America on Monday morning agreed to pay $2.8 billion to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to resolve outstanding repurchase requests on loans Countrywide Financial Corp. sold to the GSEs.

If the Department of Housing and Urban Development extends RESPA's reach to warehouse lending, it would severely limit the availability of funds for mortgage lending and hurt the housing recovery, according to three industry groups.

The National Association of Credit Managers’ report for the end of the year came in better than anticipated but the outlook is still somewhat mixed.