Servicing

Insiders who see a housing market rebound ahead are not equally optimistic about delinquencies and foreclosure rates in a market that at best will be flat.

What thoughts should guide ongoing Congressional consideration on housing finance? Let's start with this one: "It is increasingly clear that the Fed and the U.S. government's entwinement with the housing market is one of the greatest economic distortions on earth" (as the Lex Column of the Financial Times wrote).

Examiners from the Consumer Financial Production Bureau will begin entering nonbank residential lending shops in February and March, according to the bureau's newly appointed "permanent" director, Richard Cordray.

Citigroup Inc. appears to have abandoned its plan to sell its consumer lending unit -- which also makes real estate loans -- until the economy improves and it can fetch a better price for it, according to Fitch Ratings Inc.

Sabal Financial Group, a financial services management firm, has acquired a $204 million portfolio of performing and nonperforming loans from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Recent recommendations of the Federal Reserve provide guidance that may benefit the private-label residential mortgage-backed securities sector, according to Fitch Ratings.

RealtyTrac said foreclosure filings reached the lowest level in four years, as there were nearly 1.9 million default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions nationwide in 2011.

Most Americans are probably glad to see 2011 slip into the past, or at least those who own homes are. 2012 may hold the promise of a return to rising home values, something that didn’t happen last year.

The number of words written about the REO industry in 2011 makes 'War and Peace' seem like a Reader's Digest short story. So what's new for 2012? Good question ... tough answer.

PHH Corp. has upsized its debt offering to $220 million and has priced it at 6%. The underwriters have a 30-day over-allotment allowance of $30 million.