Servicing

House speaker Nancy Pelosi is urging the Department of Justice to launch an investigation into the handling of delinquent mortgages, loan modifications and foreclosures by banks for possible violations of laws and regulations.

Educational collaboration is a goal Mortgage Contracting Services LLC aims to expand through free summits across the country. And municipalities are the center of their attention.Following the success of its first session held in Frisco, Texas, the firm said it planned to host additional mini-summits in locations where executives travel to attend scheduled tradeshows and other industry events to ensure higher participation.

Bank of America Home Loans – the nation's third largest wholesale lender – said it will cease originating mortgages through loan brokers immediately, calling it a "strategic decision," allowing the company to focus on retail lending.

Moody's has placed on review for possible downgrade the servicing quality ratings of Bank of America, which recently halted certain foreclosures in 23 states.

A judge in Palm Beach County, Fla., late Monday ruled that the State Attorney General's office overstepped its authority when issuing a subpoena to examine the foreclosure practices of the Shapiro & Fishman law firm.

Texas on Monday asked 27 residential servicers doing business in the state to voluntarily suspend foreclosures and to halt sales of properties already foreclosed upon, according to a published report.

The economic value of residential mortgage servicing rights – which have been sliding for two years now – appear to have stabilized, according to a research note from MIAC Analytics, New York.

The country’s largest independent regulator of securities firms doing business in the United States recently came to the rescue of "unsophisticated investors" who incurred thousands of dollars in losses deriving from unsuitable transactions.USA HSBC Securities Inc. paid $320,000 to its retail customers to compensate losses on grounds of unsuitable sales and supervisory failure allegations brought on by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

A Tennessee-based mortgage origination and servicing software vendor is now offering its two products in a combined offering.

Remember all those prognostications from industry experts how the Dodd-Frank bill would destroy the nonbank segment of the mortgage industry, resulting in a total takeover of residential finance by depositories?