Servicing

Tied to the agency’s Servicing Success Program, Freddie Mac’s new ranking system took off this month replacing the traditional performance tiers with more realistic valuations that open the door for improved servicer activity reviews and planning of needed remedial action.The new monthly ranking of a servicer’s performance and company profile is based on points earned during the prior month. A ranking is unacceptable when the scorecard places the servicer in the bottom 25% of all ranked servicers—which is when Freddie will review potential corrective intervention.

The Mortgage Bankers Association fears that when the Federal Housing Finance Agency finally unveils its servicing fee structure proposal it will contain just one compensation model, and is appealing to the agency to include more.

A Trepp report shows in July the overall U.S. delinquency rate of commercial mortgage-backed security loans jumped to 9.88%, an all-time record increase of 51 basis points compared to June—which is largely attributed to technical changes in data reporting and analytics.

Radian Group Inc., Philadelphia, reported net income for the second quarter of $137 million, helped by widening spreads leading to a gain in fair value on its derivative portfolio of $194 million. One year prior, the company lost $475 million, due to a fair value charge of $588 million.

The mortgage operations at Ally Financial Inc. lost $127 million for the second quarter due to its legacy portfolio, down from profits of $34 million in the first quarter and $230 million for the second quarter 2010.

Recently as I chaired the SourceMedia Buying and Selling Distressed Mortgage Portfolios Forum in New York City, I was thinking about this huge market and how it hasn't quite opened up wide yet. But surely it is in the process of doing so.

Silvergate Bank, La Jolla, Calif., said its warehouse lending program funded over 1,000 residential mortgage loans totaling $267 million in the second quarter.

The 'on-again/off-again' sale process has started once again for Aurora Loan Services, the Colorado-based mortgage banking division of Aurora Bank FSB, according to industry officials.

Homeland Security Capital Corp., Arlington, Va., has made its second acquisition in the mortgage and settlement services space by buying Timios Inc., a nationwide provider of title and escrow services for $1.15 million, plus contingency payments of up to $1.35 million over the next 12 months.

Homeowners who originated their mortgages during the peak of the housing boom with unfavorable loan terms are getting more frustrated with their inability to refinance with mortgage servicers, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2011 U.S. primary mortgage servicer satisfaction study.