Servicing

The agency is developing a new methodology for evaluating underwriting defects to give lenders a better handle on the risk posed by any given flaw in a loan file.

In a wide-ranging speech on Tuesday, new FHFA Director Mel Watt said he would not weigh in on the housing finance reform debate percolating in Congress, while also detailing what changes he plans to make at the agency, including encouraging more access to credit.

There will be enough grist for the NPL mill for at least three more years, industry insiders say.

Home prices nationwide jumped by 11.3% in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, according to an analysis released Tuesday by CoreLogic.

Following two years in which its big-bank peers paid almost $2 billion to resolve fraud accusations by the Federal Housing Administration, Wells Fargo has decided it isn't giving up so easily.

Freddie Mac, which along with Fannie Mae has forced home lenders to buy back tens of billions of dollars of flawed mortgages, said the companies are loosening rules that made banks more cautious about extending credit.

The buyouts will lead to prepayments of 5% or more for some holders of mortgage-backed securities. The loans were originated from 2005 to 2008, the heyday of interest-only loans.

home in New York’s Hamptons on Further Lane, where comedian Jerry Seinfeld and hedge-fund manager Steven A. Cohen own estates, is up for auction in what will be one of the area’s biggest foreclosure sales.

Momentum continues to build for the fast-tracking of the foreclosure process on vacant, abandoned properties.

Kroll Bond Rating Agency released a new monthly credit report to monitor the performance of commercial mortgage-backed securities.