Servicing

The majority of national homeowners said in a survey that falling market values are currently a greater threat to them than a fire or a natural disaster.

October was the second best month of the year for the private mortgage insurers in terms of applications received, but the third worst in terms of the cure/default ratio, according to the Mortgage Insurance Cos. of America.

FHA-approved servicers are completing just 10,000 foreclosures a month due to bottlenecks caused by the robo-signing scandal. But settlements with state attorneys general and compliance with regulatory consent orders are expected to free up that pipeline and FHA now expects to pay a slew of claims on defaulted loans next year.

For the sixth consecutive month, the state of California experienced good news in terms of pending home sales.

NCUA said Tuesday afternoon it filed another suit against a big investment firm over the sale of mortgage-backed securities to failed corporate credit unions, this one naming defunct Wachovia Bank and its subsidiaries as defendants.

Application volume fell by 11.7% on a seasonally adjusted basis for the week ended Nov. 25, with the data adjusted to take into account Thanksgiving, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

In a worst case scenario investors in bonds issued by The PMI Group could lose upwards of $737 million because the notes are considered "unsecured" according to court papers issued in the mortgage insurer's bankruptcy filing.

Independent consultants conducting foreclosure reviews at the residential servicing units of 12 national banks are specifically required to look for possible foreclosure violations involving active duty soldiers.

The recurring theme of financial literacy may be old, but it keeps pushing itself forward and into the agenda of mortgage lenders and servicers as banks struggle to understand their borrowers' financial decision-making patterns.

Insight into the relationships between banks and consumers deemed critical to the recovery of both the housing market and the overall economy indicate mortgage banks need be aware of misperceptions about how mortgage delinquency and economic stress impacted borrower behavior-including "strategic default."