Servicing

It appears unlikely that Freddie Mac will take a hard line on enforcing contracts with servicers that have identified foreclosure documentation defects in recent weeks — though it believes some of those contracts may have been violated.

WASHINGTON — With the GOP's sweeping victory in the mid-term elections, observers were already questioning the fate of Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner in the new Congress.

Ally Financial Inc.'s chief executive said the company "screwed up on robo-signing affidavits," but has changed its foreclosure processes and will complete a review of about 25,000 affidavits by yearend.

The FDIC has finally unloaded $23 billion of mortgage servicing rights that once belonged to AmTrust Bank of Cleveland, but is saying little about the deal.

Freddie Mac sold over 26,300 foreclosure properties in the third quarter, up 47% from a year ago, while its inventory of single-family REO continued to grow.

Except for targeting the long end of the yield curve less than expected and purchase sizes a hair lower than anticipated, the Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing plan matched market expectations for incremental purchases that could be adjusted in line with evolving market conditions going forward.

Lender Processing Services Inc. reports that the nation’s average mortgage loan delinquency exceeds 500 days in five of the 23 states where foreclosures must be approved by a court.

Tuesday's elections handed the Republicans control of the House of Representatives — and therefore the Financial Services Committee — which means GSE reform moves to the top of their agenda.

Mortgage application volume fell 5% last week on a seasonally adjusted basis, as refinance applications showed a decline for the third straight week, according to new figures released by the Mortgage Bankers Association.

What Trepp LLC calls the first decline in commercial mortgage-backed securities delinquencies in over a year suggests that the industry is in a “choppy” market where there is no specific improvement in fundamentals market-wide but some select trophy loan resolutions are moving forward.