Servicing

Agricultural Federal Credit Union of Washington, D.C., is the first credit union to complete a CU Mortgage Association HarmonyLoan, which allows homeowners to adjust their interest rates with the market without the expense and trouble of a traditional refinance or new mortgage.

The number of U.S. citizens who filed for bankruptcy protection in 2010 was the highest in five years, according to a new report from the American Bankruptcy Institute.

Chase Bank has donated $100,000 to Hope LoanPort, the nonprofit manager of a Web-based tool housing counselors use to help distressed borrowers apply for mortgage modifications.

Mortgage application volume rebounded slightly, driven by an increase in refinance demand during the week between Christmas and New Year's Day, according to new figures released by the Mortgage Bankers Association.

After officially announcing late Tuesday that it completed the purchase of the MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates U.S. and U.K. property information business, San Francisco-based private equity group TPG Capital appointed a longtime Wolters Kluwer CEO to run its new acquisition.

Anyone expecting a quick and narrow resolution of mortgage servicers’ troubles from foreclosure process failures probably hasn’t talked to Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, who heads the 50-state coalition investigating the industry.In an interview with American Banker, Miller spoke of the tension between the need for a thorough investigation of industry practices and his task force’s obligation to act quickly to curtail perceived abuses.

Millions of delinquent or foreclosure loans in need of default management assistance have created demand far and beyond the capacity of existing specialty servicers that in return is fostering the creation of mega servicer shops.Some insiders worry that servicing market changes of the recent past will lead to the birth of large specialty servicers and the too-big-to-fail mentality that eventually brought some of the nation’s largest banks so close to bankruptcy that they were bailed out of failure by federal funds.

The latest Federal Open Market Committee meeting minutes suggest that employment concerns were what led the Fed last month to continue Treasury purchases aimed at stimulating the economy through lower rates despite some positive economic developments at the time.

Homeowners with negative equity on non-agency loans are vulnerable to default even in cases where they have a history of making their payments on time, according to a new report from Amherst Securities Group.

Quorum Federal Credit Union, Purchase, N.Y., has entered into a timeshare receivables purchase facility with Bluegreen Corp. of Boca Raton, Fla., allowing the CU to buy timeshare receivables on a non-recourse basis.