Servicing

Mortgage application volume decreased by 0.9% over last week on a seasonally adjusted basis, as rising interest rates continue to affect refinancing activity, according to new figures released by the Mortgage Bankers Association. The previous week's data was adjusted for Thanksgiving Day.

A borrower who goes through a foreclosure must wait at least seven years before getting a new Fannie Mae loan, according to new underwriting guidelines that are being distributed along with an updated version of the GSE's Desktop Underwriter program.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are coming under pressure from the Obama White House to start reducing principal on loans that are under water and still current, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

Consumer advocates are once again calling for stricter oversight of the reverse mortgage business, with one declaring the product should only be used as a last resort.

Union Bank, San Francisco, which this week rolled out a new 30-year, fixed-rate jumbo loan, plans to hire 75 retail employees and a handful of account executives as it seeks to expand its mortgage business.

Winthrop Watson will take over as president and chief executive of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh on Jan. 1, 2011, replacing John R. Price, who is retiring.

Fifth Third Mortgage Co. continues to convert to permanent status nearly 77% of the firm’s Home Affordable Modification Program portfolio. It is over double the national average conversion ratio, which according to U.S Treasury data released in October remains at 35%.

One of the innocent casualties of the mortgage bust/housing bubble was the secondary market for servicing rights. Over the past two years the largest “bulk” sales were facilitated by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., as a way to raise cash from the carcasses of dead banks.

A new business process management software creates rules and checklists for servicers to ensure the cases they take to foreclosure meet compliance guidelines—technology that developer Pegasystems says protects servicers and lien holders from faulty foreclosure processes and speeds up the time it takes a property to transfer to real estate owned status.

The delinquent loan inventory at Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corp., Milwaukee, Wis., fell by over 3,900 loans in November, although new delinquency notices outpaced cures by 1,169 loans.