Servicing

The former president and chief executive officer of U.S. Mortgage, a loan servicing company based in Nevada, pleaded guilty for his role in a scheme to defraud Wells Fargo of more than $8 million.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency reported Wednesday morning that 294,300 HARP refinancings were completed in the first quarter, compared to 297,460 in the fourth quarter of 2012.

Lennar Corp. received an increase in its unsecured revolving credit facility to $950 million, plus it was able to extend the maturity date to June 2017.

Moody's once again affirmed the servicer quality of Bank of America, N.A. at average despite ongoing measures taken to improve servicing performance.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. chairman and chief executive Jamie Dimon told investors Tuesday afternoon that he likes the mortgage business and the servicing side is improving.

Stonegate Mortgage Corp., has added executives who previously worked for Two Harbors, Saxon, and WellPoint to its senior management team.

During the month of May, 23,034 new and resale houses and condominiums sold in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, San Bernardino, Ventura, and Orange counties.

There were 12 of 17 Mortgage Industry Equity Composite stocks whose closing price declined more than one percentage point on Tuesday.

Platinum Data Solutions hired Bill King as senior vice president, valuation solutions.

The massive waves of 2005-2007 residential mortgage-backed securities downgrades have finally calmed down a bit, thanks largely to housing improvement.