Servicing

California State Assemblyman Ted Lieu, a Democrat from Torrance, has asked two state regulatory agencies to temporarily halt foreclosures for 60 days and launch an investigation into the practices of mortgage servicers even though California is a non-judicial foreclosure state.

Valuing mortgage servicing rights is tricky in normal times. The foreclosure documentation mess threatens to make the process even more difficult.

Litton Loan Servicing, the nation's fifth largest servicer of subprime mortgages, said it will halt certain foreclosures to review how its processes these delinquent loans.

Default servicing vendor Equator Financial Solutions has experienced a surge in the use of its short sale features on its servicing platform, and now the Los Angeles-based company is adding a new invoicing function to streamline payments.

Home prices reached a bottom in the first-half of 2010 and should rise next year, according to a survey of professional economic forecasters released Monday afternoon.

The nation's largest mortgage lenders and servicers are currently in a battle for their lives. They are engaged in implementing new loan quality initiatives to stave off investor buyback request, forensic reviews of past deals for risk assessment and trying to meet the government's demands for aid to troubled borrowers. Little time is left for seeking out new loan origination volume, and yet there is still business out there.

A solid blend of expansive data gathering, in-house expertise and multifaceted analytics that help assess local market values within the overall market context are key to generating the best business decisions.That is a summary of the philosophy behind The Terranova Group model of foreclosed property dispositions. It is designed to manage REOs and sell them, too. Plus, the firm, which specializes in disposition strategies, would accept compensation only after a property moves out of the lender’s book.

The Obama administration said it does not support halting foreclosures nationwide on the grounds that it could delay and hurt a recovery in the housing market.

Senate Banking Committee chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., will hold a committee hearing Nov. 16 to review allegations of improper and fraudulent mortgage servicing and foreclosure processing by the nation's banking companies.

The Treasury Department singled out the three largest banks—Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co.—for failing to properly solicit and consider homeowners for the government's loan modification program.