Servicing

Mortgage servicers seem to be caught between a rock and hard place when it comes to foreclosures: their legal practices are being scrutinized by state attorneys general for sloppy paperwork while the GSEs pile on fees for delays in loss mitigation work.

Military personnel whose homes were improperly foreclosed upon will each receive at least $116,875 from BAC Home Loans Servicing, a subsidiary of Bank of America, for the bank's alleged violation of the Servicemember Civil Relief Act.

AG Mortgage Investment Trust Inc., New York, generated $13.2 million in GAAP net income, or $1.41 per share, during the third quarter -- its first reporting period after its initial public offering and private placement in July.

Home prices, on average, ended August at $205,000, an almost 4% drop from last year, according to new figures compiled by Lender Processing Services, Jacksonville, Fla.

Lawyers have opened a new front in mortgage securities litigation by suing BNY Mellon and U.S. Bank over an alleged failure to properly handle the storage and recordkeeping of mortgage documents. But observers and participants in more established mortgage repurchase litigation question whether suing over trust and document custody errors is a promising fight.

Federal Reserve Board Vice Chairman Janet Yellen said Friday the central bank will soon issue a long-awaited package of proposed rules implementing the Dodd-Frank Act.

It's a sign of the dismal state of the housing market that a combined $14 billion bailout in the third quarter for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac no longer merits front-page headlines.

The Federal Housing Administration, which sold more than 102,000 government-owned homes in fiscal year 2011, expects to sell that many again in the new fiscal year.

The ever-optimistic National Association of Realtors believes the worst housing downturn since the Great Depression is almost over.

House and Senate conferees will not restore the $729,750 maximum loan limit on GSE-backed mortgages in high cost areas, sources told National Mortgage News this weekend -- but they have agreed to bump up the limit on Federal Housing Administration loans in lower cost areas.