Servicing

The key to solving the housing crisis is the disposal of billions of dollars worth of nonperforming loans sitting on the books of the nation’s depositories and investment banks. But now that the mortgage industry has been wracked by the “foreclosure-gate” crisis the NPL market may be the next victim of this fast growing mess.

JPMorgan Chase suffered $1.5 billion of mortgage repurchase losses in the third quarter due to loan buybacks from secondary market investors (mostly the GSEs) but its residential lending unit still managed to post positive earnings in the quarter.

When used properly, social media can help credit unions make connections with Realtors, which in turn will increase CUs’ share of the mortgage market.

Even though a Florida judge says it does not have to, a law firm that the state’s attorney general’s office is going after for alleged foreclosure malfeasance is willing to discuss its practices with them.

Even though the White House backed away from endorsing a national foreclosure moratorium, the issue isn't going away anytime soon — and servicers and vendors alike are worried that the 'Foreclosure-gate' scandal will continue to harm the market.

Wells Fargo Home Loans has agreed to review pending foreclosures where the borrowers are generally delinquent 10 months or more, according to a company spokeswoman.

GMAC Mortgage said it has hired several legal and accounting firms to conduct independent reviews of its foreclosure procedures in all 50 states.

Statistics aside, the credit counseling industry can hardly keep up with demand.The numbers look good, but according to the president and CEO of the National Foundation for Credit Counseling, Susan Keating, they do not tell the whole story. Numbers cannot measure what insiders call “the fatigue factor.”

There is a lot of talk about today’s improved loan quality and loans on the secondary market today are better, but recent events have clearly highlighted the need for better vetting when it comes to processing on the servicing side, and not to be overlooked as this occurs is that there is still a lot to look out for on the origination side, too.

State banking regulators and several attorneys general are forming a multi-state task force to investigate the nation's foreclosure crisis, zeroing in on whether servicers cut corners on their paperwork.