Servicing

For thrifts that have long harbored ambitions of converting to commercial banks, an upcoming regulatory merger is forcing hard decisions.

Delinquency rates on closed-end home equity loans and home equity lines of credit showed little improvement in the fourth quarter compared to the third, according to new figures released by the American Bankers Association.

The number of completed foreclosures fell by nearly 50% from the third to the fourth quarters as servicers came under pressure from state and federal regulators to correct their foreclosures processes and agree to a civil settlement.

Elizabeth Warren, the Obama administration official in charge of setting up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, again defended her role in a pending settlement between several state and federal agencies and the top 5 mortgage servicers.

Fewer Americans claim they are having trouble paying their monthly mortgage, an improvement of seven percentage points over 2010, according to a Harris Poll taken in March.

A group of funds managed by Boston-based Highfields Capital Management increased its stake in mortgage technology and services vendor Lender Processing Services to 5.2% of common stock, according to new documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

To clear up mortgage ownership issues quickly, banks and servicers should set up a multi-billion dollar fund to pay homeowners who are willing to accept their ownership of the mortgage note, according to Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. chairman Sheila Bair.

When it comes to the business of mortgage servicing now may not look like the best time to jump in.

The Treasury Department late Friday issued its first ever scorecard on HAMP second lien modifications, noting that from April of last year to February, servicers restructured 17,000 junior liens.

Only a "small fraction" of the nation's 3,000-plus counties will be impacted when the formula that determines the conforming loan limit changes in October, according to an analysis by the Federal Housing Finance Agency.