Servicing

The Federal Reserve might start purchasing agency mortgage-backed securities again if the Obama administration can cobble together an effective program to refinance Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac guaranteed loans, according to a new report from Keefe, Bruyette & Woods.

Nonprime lender/servicer Springleaf Financial late Wednesday priced a $242 million nonprime residential MBS, at a yield of 4%, according to market reports.

Goldman Sachs & Co. can complete the sale of its mortgage servicing subsidiary to Ocwen Financial Corp. now that the parties have agreed to a settlement with the New York superintendent of banks over alleged abusive services practices, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

MountainView Servicing Group, Denver, is auctioning off a $485 million portfolio of mortgage servicing rights backed by Fannie Mae loans.

Icon Residential, Irvine, Calif., recently pulled the plug on its plans to enter the correspondent lending channel, laying off roughly 120 full-time employees at the unit and a related division.

Some of the largest mortgage servicers are still fabricating documents that should have been signed years ago and submitting them as evidence to foreclose on homeowners.

Fannie Mae bought $39.4 billion of home mortgages from its seller/servicers in July, a 5% decline from the previous month. But compared to the same month a year ago the GSE's acquisitions fell 26%.

Radian Guaranty executive Camillo Melchiorre will leave his post as senior vice president of loss management to serve as president and CEO of mortgage technology nonprofit Hope LoanPort, effective Sept. 1.

The Securities and Exchange Commission believes that mortgage real estate investment trusts are beginning to look more like mutual funds and has initiated a review of their exemption from the Investment Company Act.

Home prices rose in July for the fourth consecutive month, according to CoreLogic, which tracks the market through its house price index.