Servicing

Fannie Mae this week established new timelines to expedite residential short sales as required by its regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

At the start of this year, nearly one in four mortgages was underwater and 4.5 million mortgages were seriously delinquent. And today, some studies estimate that as many as 10 million borrowers are at risk of defaulting on their mortgages in the coming years. One of the problems that has made things even harder for struggling homeowners is the state of the mortgage servicing industry.

Freddie Mac purchased $42 billion of mortgages from its seller/servicers in March, its strongest acquisition month since the refinancing boom of late 2010.

National home values experienced their largest monthly gain since May 2006 by increasing 0.5% in March, according to Zillow’s Home Value Index.

It's been a bumpy ride in recent quarters, but loan-loss provisions have gradually tapered off and early signs from first-quarter reports suggest that lower provisions may be here to stay.

The national delinquency rate continued its downward slide in 2012, falling to just over 7% at March 31, down 6% from the month prior, according to new figures compiled by Lender Processing Services for its “First Look Mortgage Monitor” report.

EverBank Financial, a top ranked mortgage lender, finally set a price for a planned $225 million capital raise after sitting on its initial public offering for half a year.

The FBI mortgage fraud caseload is on track to pass last year’s volume and possibly even the record total reached in fiscal 2010.

Treasury’s policy director Laurie Anne Maggiano is concerned about misperceptions related to how the attorneys general servicing settlement money will affect borrowers and the marketplace over time.

BOK Financial, Tulsa, Okla., reported first-quarter earnings of $83.6 million, up from 29% from a year earlier, as credit costs lowered and mortgage banking revenue soared.