Servicing

While commercial MBS loan performance appears to be stabilizing, delinquency rates are continuing to climb, hitting a survey-record high in the third quarter, according to new figures compiled by the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Revealing that federal banking agencies have found significant "structural problems" in the mortgage servicing industry, Federal Reserve Gov. Dan Tarullo is calling for the creation of national foreclosure standards.

With the shift in the secondary market for reverse mortgages from Fannie Mae over to Ginnie Mae, issuers themselves now bear the responsibility and risks associated with managing the real estate owned process, a sea change for some of them.In addition, home prices are falling and continue to fall, which makes handling these special real estate-owned assets particularly challenging, according to Darren White, vice president for default/foreclosure/REO/claims at Reverse Mortgage Solutions Inc. in Spring, Texas.

FDIC chairman Sheila Bair is calling on Treasury officials to streamline the loan modification process and require writedowns of second mortgages.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is ordering residential servicers under its purview to stop dual tracking foreclosure proceedings and loan modifications whenever legally possible.

To quell doubts about its mortgage unit's handling of documents, Bank of America Corp. is distancing itself from…itself.B of A now says that a senior litigation manager—who had 10 years' experience working at Countrywide Home Loans Servicing LP—was out of her depth when she testified in a New Jersey courtroom about the unit's document practices.

A mixed-use development in Oakland, Calif., previously taken into real estate-owned status as the result of the developer’s bankruptcy, has a new owner and a new name.

The public-private partnership between the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and a group of real estate investors and asset managers took ownership of a real estate-owned condo development in Hawaii.

Fears of a commercial real estate market collapse in bigger proportions than what we have already seen in the residential side are now making way to renewed recovery expectations especially in the smaller-cap segment of that market.According to research firm Boxwood Mean Inc., Stamford, Conn., the small-cap commercial property market is ticking up as prices for small CRE properties “are gradually recovering after a slump lasting three years,” as private investors expect “a space market recovery in 2011.”

Research findings throughout the recession show the financial vulnerability of delinquent consumers has worsened and is bound to push these borrowers into even more severe stages of delinquency.The trend is shaped by economic and behavioral factors fueled by still-dropping house prices and high unemployment.According to TransUnion, the number of consumers “rolling” their delinquency status on mortgage payments from 30 to 60 and 60 to 90 days past due peaked in July 2009.