Servicing

As it shifts into a more customer-driven philosophy, insiders say, the mortgage servicing business model is becoming more woman-friendly than ever.

Of the 11 largest servicers evaluated through the Fannie Mae Servicer Total Achievement and Rewards program, only CitiMortgage, Everbank, GMAC Mortgage (Ally Bank) and Wells Fargo made a satisfactory grade in the third quarter.

The surge in refinancings this fall pushed Fannie Mae's issuance of mortgage-backed securities to $63.7 billion in November, up 20% from the prior month.

Since launching its short sale module in November 2009, the default servicing technology provider Equator said approximately 1.2 million short sales have been facilitated through its platform.

The backlog of real estate owned homes held by banks and the government is "staggering," Fitch Inc. said.

One hallmark of the Dodd-Frank Act was the creation of the Office of Financial Research, an agency dedicated to collecting and sifting data from financial firms to help predict the next crisis.

Holiday retail sales gave the NACM's Credit Managers' Index a boost to a high not seen since May, but it remained below year-ago levels as many companies, including some in the mortgage space, are still in distress.

Fitch said Thursday it sees little risk of a negative rating impact on CMBS from the closure of 100 to 120 unspecified Sears and Kmart stores across the U.S., but noted there is some exposure in the commercial mortgage-backed securities universe to the concern.

Consumers are having a tough time qualifying for a mortgage these days, and even a federal program designed to provide financing for low- and moderate-income borrowers is winnowing out applicants with low credit scores.

Despite the hand-wringing and nail-biting, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau made it through 2011 without any major confrontation with the banking industry.