Servicing

Auction.com plans to put out for bid at least two commercial real estate loan packages per month for the next three months totaling more than $1.86 billion.

Real estate listing and mortgage rate search website company Zillow registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission Monday, seeking to raise $51.75 million from the initial public offering of its common stock.

At the Fifth Annual SourceMedia Mortgage Servicing Conference in Dallas, attendees concerned about the future of their industry discussed proposals to change the mortgage servicing fee structure and the realignment of servicer incentives, changes in definitions and foreclosure timelines, the consequences of frequent regulatory updates and whether all these concentrated efforts are simply postponing the inevitable.

Mortgage servicers have gotten a reputation as the bad boys of foreclosure, putting people out of their homes and helping to power trends like a major American city (Detroit) losing 25% of its population in a decade.

The Federal Trade Commission has mailed 1,410 refund checks totaling an estimated $2.3 million to consumers allegedly defrauded by Home Assure LLC, a so-called mortgage foreclosure rescue service.

The New Democrat Coalition is calling for the wind-down of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and more reliance on a private mortgage market.

Citigroup expects to increase its loss mitigation staff by 500 new hires and take a one-time $50 million charge to comply with a federal consent order it signed to settle servicing and foreclosure shortcomings.

Citigroup has sold $10 billion of residential mortgages over the past five quarters as it continues to shrink its “bad bank” which is known as Citi Holdings.

Fannie Mae has declared war on so called "side agreements" that lenders have worked out with mortgage insurers to reduce their exposure to loan buybacks.

A pilot program designed to avoid Home Equity Conversion Mortgage delinquencies is gaining track among seniors in need of help at about the same time pending legislation calls for cuts of all funding for federally mandated reverse mortgage counseling.The FY 2011 Continuing Appropriations Act (H.R. 1473)—scheduled to pass Congress in mid-April—would eliminate $88 million in HECM counseling funds.