Servicing

Commercial and saving banks originated $133.8 billion of single-family loans using the retail channel in the second quarter, a 10% increase from the prior period, according to new figures released by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has charged Coppell, TX-based American Home Mortgage Servicing Inc., the nation’s largest independent subprime servicer, with allegedly “using illegal debt collection tactics and improperly misleading struggling homeowners."

The news remains ugly. Foreclosures are still the topic of the day, although now we're focused on "short sales." But the underlying question is the same: The house is worth less than the debt. What should we do?

Everyone knows that short sales have gone through the roof, tripling over the last couple of years and providing more grist to the unlikely alliances of lenders and Realtors that have sprung up to handle them.

Velocity Commercial Capital Inc. hopes to raise $175 million through an initial public offering of shares, using the proceeds to originate or acquire small-balance commercial mortgages.

Mortgage-backed securities, especially those paying higher rates of interest than comparable Treasures, are gaining an increased amount of attention from investors who have been sitting on cash.

CoreLogic has introduced a new short sale fraud prevention and pricing product that gives lenders alerts on what it calls "risky" pending and closed short sales.

Accountants at depositories may have to change the way they count loans and securities — including mortgages — that might go bad.

The Government National Mortgage Association is expediting the release of its monthly MBS disclosure files by two weeks, in an effort to give investors more timely information on which to trade.

The Federal Housing Administration needs to provide guidance to servicers to address an increasing number of seniors who are defaulting on their federally insured reverse mortgages, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Office of Inspector General.