Servicing

The storm surge of foreclosed properties on bank books shows little indication of ebbing, and institutions continue to be drowned by it.

A funny thing happened on the way to the mortgage correction: while residential debt outstanding has been declining steadily for well over a year, subservicing contracts have increased - handsomely.

JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s chief executive, Jamie Dimon, told investors at the beginning of 2011 that potential repurchases of private-label mortgage securities are "not that material" for his bank - an assertion that increasingly appears to be in doubt.

Residential delinquencies rose to 8.15% at the end of November, an almost 3% increase from the prior month, according to new figures compiled by Lender Processing Services, Jacksonville, Fla.

New requirements for third-party MERS audits are one of among the many inordinate compliance demands that could be easily overlooked, but they will soon no longer be something that can be ignored, according to executives at Quality Mortgage Services.

A hot legal issue known among insiders as the City of Chicago ordinance transfers the burden and costs of vacant property ownership from the mortgagee to the lender clashing with some county-level foreclosure process requirements.

When word leaks out that your company is for sale top producers – the smart ones at least – start weighing their options. Readers of this column and the National Mortgage News website have been kept abreast of all the LOs walking out the door at Bank of America.

Nevada's attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto this week filed civil fraud charges against Lender Processing Services and two subsidiaries alleging the company engaged in a widespread fraud of forging foreclosure documents.

Fannie Mae is giving the mortgage servicing industry's handling of troubled government-backed loans a makeover. But it would rather do so in private.

Friday morning, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury fell to lows not seen in the last couple of months, a sign that mortgage rates will stay low.