Servicing

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency closed Security Bank in North Lauderdale, Fla., on Friday, bringing the total number of failures so far in 2012 to 23.

Las Vegas-area home sales rose in March to a level not seen in six years.

While bankers remain concerned about the activities of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, they should take some comfort from a recent suggestion by the agency's director, Richard Cordray, that the regulation of nonbank institutions is a top priority.

HSBC Bank USA said that it has inked a deal to transfer roughly $52 billion of residential servicing rights to PHH Corp., which also will absorb two-thirds of its mortgage work force.

A timeline Acting FHFA director Ed DeMarco provided to Congress in March targets September as the date for the first single-family risk-sharing deals. But the question boils down to this: What will Fannie and Freddie come up with and will it be profit-enticing enough for the private sector jump on board?

Vacant and deteriorated homes that are not being maintained properly continues to negatively affect the national housing market.

One has to be particularly careful to have the right mix of quality, technology and speed when it comes to managing valuations, contractor networks and FHA product in particular, according to three respective experts in these areas.

There may be a simple reason why Wells won’t buy mortgages from a certain lender.

Ocwen Financial Corp., which has been gobbling up billions of dollars of mortgage servicing rights the past two years, earned $19.3 million in the first quarter, a 13% decline from the year ago period.

United Guaranty Corp., the mortgage insurance subsidiary of American International Group, had operating income of $8 million in the first quarter, down from $14 million for the same period in 2011.