Servicing

With the support of more than 16,000 Americans, a Seattle homeowner was able to prevent Bank of America from issuing a foreclosure notice on her property.

MBS issuers have long enjoyed an exemption from onerous provisions of the Investment Company Act since the start of mortgage securitization in the early 1980s, but all that could change under a new proposal being weighed by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A government streamlined refinancing program that would reduce monthly mortgage payments for a large number of borrowers appears more likely while insiders fret over its future cost burdens on borrowers, the government and investors.

Just like their peers in distress, borrowers with disposable income also favor one-on-one banking. Bank of America started implementing the face-to-face approach, so far deemed the most efficient foreclosure prevention tool in the market, to advise customers with $50,000 to $250,000 in "investable assets."

Wells Fargo & Co. has invited 9,500 distressed customers to a two-day Home Preservation workshop scheduled for Sept. 8 and 9 in Atlanta, the city where it introduced one of the bank's first foreclosure prevention workshops in 2009.

A coalition of industry groups is urging Congress to act quickly to maintain the GSE loan limit at $729,750, saying the pending expiration is hurting both home sales and application volume.

When the Federal Housing Finance Agency late Friday unveiled its $200 billion lawsuit against investment banking firms that sold faulty MBS to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, it also targeted executives who signed the original shelf registration documents on the securities in question.

The state attorneys general have a secret weapon in their negotiations with the largest mortgage servicers: the results of a HUD investigation into the banks' robo-signing practices.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency late Friday filed a massive multi-billion civil suit against 17 firms that played a role in selling faulty subprime MBS to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – including the government owned Ally Financial and Fannie's biggest customer at one time, Countrywide Financial Corp.

MountainView Capital Holdings, Denver, said one of its investment funds was the winning bidder on a $282 million pool of residential loans auctioned off by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.