Servicing

To maintain an important inducement for mortgage putbacks, Freddie Mac has warned its seller-servicers to stop cutting side deals with mortgage insurers.

Although lawmakers were ostensibly supposed to debate ways to overhaul the structure and authority of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a hearing Wednesday in a House Financial Services subcommittee was sidetracked by questions over whether the agency should exist at all.

Many of the nation's largest residential servicers — the subject of an intense federal audit that commenced last fall — have signed consent agreements to take corrective actions with regard to the processing of foreclosures and loan modifications, according to sources familiar with the matter.

National servicing standards "are clearly doable" according to New York Banking superintendent Richard Neiman, but the Empire State's top regulator says a lack of cooperation between the states and federal regulators is hobbling the effort.

A House Financial Services Subcommittee Wednesday approved eight separate bills to reform and downsize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mae.

Patriot National Bancorp announced the sale of nonperforming assets and the closure of four of its branches.

Marshall Hotels & Resorts Inc. has signed contracts to manage three hotels and was also appointed to become the receivership for another resort.

Sheldon Good & Co. will be conducting a developer closeout auction for the remaining 18 condominium residences available at The Bristol located in the Galleria District in Houston.

The Cogsville Group, a private equity firm that focuses on commercial real estate, has joined with Colony Capital and a consortium of investors to acquire two portfolios from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Morgan Stanley Real Estate has acquired a loan portfolio consisting of 45 assets with a principal balance of $196 million from on an offshore bank.