Servicing

Commercial banks funded $106 billion of retail home mortgages in 2Q, a 21% decline from the prior period, according to new figures released by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Gleacher & Co., which is exiting the equities business after a strategic review, is concentrating instead on efforts that include a continuing build-out of its conforming/jumbo origination unit aimed at complementing its fixed income sales and trading platform.

In times when the debt crisis requires better economic understanding than ever, nearly eight in every 10 members of Congress lack education in economics or business and may not have housing market knowledge, according to findings from the Employment Policies Institute.

Delinquent homeowners continue to tune out their mortgage servicers while banks struggle with mortgage counseling compensation issues.During the first half of this year a staggering 5.5 million homeowners 60 days or more delinquent had never contacted their bank prompting servicers to send out over 5.5 million Hope Now letters designed to help minimize foreclosure risk.

Incentive-based efforts to sell foreclosed properties especially if the homes are vacant or abandoned are accelerating this year. A bank-owned property for sale in a blighted neighborhood is most people's nightmare as much as a low-interest, no-downpayment mortgage is everyone's dream. It may take an incentive-based financing option to marry the two.

American Home Mortgage Servicing has filed a lawsuit in District Court in Dallas County against Lender Processing Services and its affiliate DocX to recoup millions of dollars in claimed losses.

The Obama administration is looking at creating a major refinancing program to help the housing market and give the economy a jolt, according to industry officials.

Origen Financial Inc., a Southfield, Mich.-based real estate investment trust that manages residual interests on manufactured housing loan securities, lost $3.5 million in the second quarter, a 15% improvement over the $4.1 million lost in the same period last year.

The House of Representatives in Illinois has amended House Bill 1960 by giving homeowners an additional 30 days to file a motion to appeal a court's jurisdiction during the judicial foreclosure procedure.

Arizona regulators said the primary mortgage insurance subsidiary of The PMI Group, Walnut Creek, Calif., had a $320 million deficit in its policyholder position and that was one of the factors which led to the decision to appoint a supervisor over the company's operations.