Servicing

Bank of America Corp., during an earnings conference call with analysts, pinned an upper bound to its risk of loss from litigation over private-label, mortgage-backed securities: $7 billion to $10 billion.

Kondaur Capital, a player in the distressed mortgage space, purchased roughly 1,500 loans in December, according to company CEO Jon Daurio.

Last year's robo-signing scandals delayed tens of thousands of foreclosures in the 23 states where the process is handled in court. A new controversy could complicate foreclosures in the other 27 states.

The National Credit Union Administration late this week sold another $1.5 billion of its NCUA Guaranteed Notes, bonds whose cash flows ultimately come from toxic MBS owned by now defunct corporate credit unions.

Most Americans are likely to cringe at the thought of accelerating the pace of foreclosures. Steep drops in home prices and property values, along with uncertainty about the exact number of homes in foreclosure, continue to stifle consumer confidence.

Hudson City Bancorp this week reported that net income fell 11% in the fourth quarter as record low interest rates cut into yields it earns on mortgage-related assets — a condition the lender anticipates will continue throughout 2011.

Mortgage bankers funded $28.1 billion of Federal Housing Administration-backed single-family loans in December, a slight gain from the previous month.

Bank of America Friday morning reported a fourth quarter loss of $5 billion on its residential finance and insurance unit, citing $4.1 billion in representation and warranty costs tied to buybacks from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In the year ago quarter its mortgage loss was $1 billion.

The nation's two largest mortgage servicers—Bank of America and Wells Fargo & Co.—are among the most sued financial service firms in the nation, according to a new tally from Institutional Risk Analytics.

Lender Processing Services Inc., Jacksonville, Fla. reported that in December the U.S. delinquency rate of loans 30 or more days past due but not in foreclosure decreased to 8.83%. This is down by 2.1% compared to the previous month and an even deeper drop, at 17.9%, on a year-over-year basis.