Servicing

The first residential mortgage-backed securities class rated by Fitch Ratings post-crisis has paid off, the ratings agency said Monday.

In just a few years, a popular mall with high-end anchor stores and boutique retail tenants can fall into substandard property condition, leaving commercial mortgage bond investors with outsized losses on their exposure to these properties.

Many lenders are still reluctant to give mortgages to borrowers with less-than-pristine credit, yet such loans are far more likely than prime jumbo loans to be bundled into collateral bonds. Sreeni Prabhu of Angel Oak Capital credits banks' behavior and higher interest rates for that reality.

Fitch has taken a slightly dimmer view of Midland Loan Services' ability to workout distressed commercial mortgages.

Ocwen Financial Corp.'s loan servicing subsidiary has reached a settlement with the Washington State Department of Financial Institutions' consumer services division over the servicer's practice of using unlicensed offshore companies.

PHH Corp. will lose nearly a third of its subservicing portfolio as HSBC Bank agreed to sell the mortgage servicing rights on 139,000 loans.

Mortgage industry hiring and new job appointments for the week ending Aug. 26.

Nationstar Mortgage Holdings plans to open a new customer contact center in Longview, Texas.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency announced the extension of the Home Affordable Refinancing Program through September 2017 as well as the creation of a new program for those with high loan-to-value ratios.

Liquidity is waning in markets for residential mortgages and related securities, and regulators and policymakers need to address this issue before it turns into a crisis, according to Kroll Bond Rating Agency.