Servicing

Recent collateral requirements from the European Central Bank appear to be creating, among other things, some demand for new second ratings of older mortgage-backed securities and potentially other deals.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have agreed to "single track" delinquent borrowers for at least 120 days before servicers begin foreclosure processing under new loss mitigation guidelines sanctioned by the GSE regulator.

A pair of the nation's largest title insurers, First American Financial Corp. and Stewart Information Services Corp., reported net losses for the first quarter. Meanwhile, while the title insurance operations at Old Republic International Corp. were profitable, the mortgage insurance subsidiary posted an operating loss, contributing to the parent company's net loss.

Chase plans to hire anywhere from 500 to 1000 mortgage servicing employees once its new office space in Gahanna, Ohio is completed later this year.

Fannie Mae reported a 4.2% increase in MBS issuance for March while the other GSEs -- Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae -- registered month-over-month declines.

Although a handful of bidders have pondered the thought of buying roughly $40 billion of servicing rights being peddled by HSBC Bank USA, it appears the deal has stalled for now.

The Realtors' leading indicator of future home sales jumped 5.1% in March -- signaling a possible uptick in sales for April and May.

Federal Housing Administration endorsements of single-family loans fell 24% in the first quarter compared to the fourth quarter, as the slowdown in lending is even affecting low-downpayment products.

Neighborhood Mortgage Solutions, a credit union service organization that provides mortgage servicing to 30 credit unions, implemented technology to allow borrowers to make their mortgage payment at the teller windows of their credit union.

The Michigan Court of Appeals ruled that Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems Inc. is ineligible to use the state’s nonjudicial foreclosure process, vacating the 2009 foreclosures of two borrowers.