Servicing

Barbara Desoer, the president of Bank of America's home loans division who was once considered a possible successor to former Chief Executive Ken Lewis, will retire at the end of February, B of A said Friday.

Another state attorney general has filed a lawsuit against Merscorp, this time in New York, where Eric Schneiderman took aim at the thousands of MERS “certifying officers” employed by mortgage servicers whom he alleges filed defective and inaccurate foreclosure documents that deceived and mislead borrowers and courts.

A New York housing counselor on Thursday was sentenced to six years in prison for bilking 136 mortgage customers who sought loan modifications.

Genworth Financial posted earnings of $107 million in the fourth quarter - compared to a $161 million loss a year ago - but its mortgage insurance division continued to struggle.

The housing market is going through changes that challenge middle-market companies including mortgage servicers. It has been proven in past economic downturns that companies that invest heavily in the right kinds of marketing and strategic planning are the ones that will capitalize the most on the situation and likely thrive when the market turns around.

Mortgage companies have added at least 3,000 full-time employees to their payrolls since September -- to keep up with refinancings -- but held off on hiring in December, according to new government figures released Friday morning.

Credit Suisse analysts said in a press conference that the rampant use of principal forgiveness is a dangerous path because it promotes moral hazard. The true key to avoid moral hazard as well as what drives the re-default rate is not the type of modification but the level of payment reduction to the borrower’s mortgage.

Interactive Mortgage Advisors, Denver, is selling a $589 million portfolio of residential servicing rights backed by Fannie Mae and GNMA mortgages.

National home prices fell for the fifth consecutive year as they were down 4.7% at the end of 2011 compared to December 2010, according to a CoreLogic report.

Freddie Mac saw its 2011 multi-family volume increase by 32% over 2010 to more than $20 billion. Of that total, $16.5 billion, or 81%, of new purchase volume was through the Capital Markets Execution program – the largest annual volume amount to date.