Servicing

First Federal Savings and Loan Association, a subsidiary of First Financial Holdings, has signed an agreement to sell nearly $198 million of selected performing loans and classified assets to Varde Partners' joint venture partners FirstCity Financial Corp., Mountain Real Estate Group and Shelving Rock Partners.

Clear Capital, a real estate analytics firm that provides data and solutions for financial services companies, has made changes to its senior executive team to support the company's business expansion.

The U.S. homeownership rate rose unexpectedly in the third quarter from 2Q as rental vacancies climbed -- with new evidence suggesting that tenants are tiring of rising rents.

BB&T Corp. has reached an agreement to acquire BankAtlantic to accelerate the financial services provider's expansion in Southeast Florida.

Because of still challenging market-making conditions, Credit Suisse Group is set to either downsize or cut altogether some securitization businesses and fixed-income units.

Nearly two-thirds – or 60% – of European CMBS maturing loans could fail to repay by the end of 2012, according to Standard & Poor's.

The New York Supreme Court late Monday denied Countrywide and Bank of America's motion to consolidate various claims against them made by four bond insurers led by MBIA Insurance Corp.

Moody's Investors Service has extended the review period for a possible downgrade of $871 million of outstanding bonds sold by the Idaho Housing and Finance Association while the issuer works on a plan to shore up its balance sheet.

The refinance boom of the third quarter both helped and hurt earnings at PHH Corp., Mt. Laurel, N.J. The company reported a net loss of $148 million during the period due to a $361 million write-down of mortgage servicing rights values.

The government owned Ally Financial posted a $210 million loss in the third quarter, dragged down by a $471 million pre-tax charge tied to its mortgage servicing rights.