Servicing

November was the best month of 2010 so far for the nation's private mortgage insurers in terms of new insurance written, while it was the second best for new applications. Furthermore, the cure/default ratio was back above 90% for the first time in three months, according to data from the Mortgage Insurance Cos. of America.

The Eleventh Federal Home Loan District Cost of Funds Index declined by eight basis points between October and November, resuming its downward movement after one month where there was virtually no change.

Moody's late last week downgraded $729 million of payment option ARM securities issued by Washington Mutual, Seattle, which is now the property of JPMorgan Chase.

The Council of Federal Home Loan Banks has hired former Fannie Mae executive David Jeffers to be its executive vice president of policy and public affairs.

Bank of America on Monday morning agreed to pay $2.8 billion to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to resolve outstanding repurchase requests on loans Countrywide Financial Corp. sold to the GSEs.

If the Department of Housing and Urban Development extends RESPA's reach to warehouse lending, it would severely limit the availability of funds for mortgage lending and hurt the housing recovery, according to three industry groups.

The National Association of Credit Managers’ report for the end of the year came in better than anticipated but the outlook is still somewhat mixed.

Newtek Business Services Inc. has closed on the sale of $23 million of non-guaranteed portions of SBA small business loans into a securitization trust.

In the wake of an internal consolidation, Fitch has affirmed Bank of America NA’s primary residential mortgage servicer rating for prime-credit loans, but downgraded slightly its primary servicer ratings for alternative-A credit loans and home equity lines of credit.

In a letter sent to Ohio judges, the state’s Attorney General Richard Cordray has requested that its courts continue to pay close attention to foreclosure cases that may have affidavits signed by so-called robo-signers and highlighted several Common Pleas courts that have taken action to address the situation.