Servicing

The Rural Housing Service has updated its automated underwriting system to process purchase money loans and will do the same for refinancings.

MetLife Inc. late last week joined other mortgage servicers in postponing foreclosure sales in certain states.

The residential lending arm of Citicorp funded $18.6 billion of one- to four-family mortgages in the third quarter, an impressive 66% gain from the prior period, according to figures released Monday morning.

The use of short sales will get a boost now that many servicers cannot move ahead with foreclosure sales, according to Travis Olsen, a short sale vendor.

The American Bankers Association is warning congressional leaders that a nationwide moratorium on foreclosures would "further depress home prices and disrupt an already fragile economy."

Small mortgage banking firms believe they've been given the regulatory shaft by the federal government and are none too happy about the HAMP program as well, according to the just released MORTECH 2010 Report.

WASHINGTON—The Federal Housing Finance Agency's proposed ban of so-called private transfer fees goes too far, according to a group dedicated to fostering successful community associations.

WASHINGTON—The National Housing Conference is trying to get Treasury officials to pay more attention to the multifamily side of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as the agency ponders ways to restructure them as well as the nation's housing finance system.

The 30-day plus delinquency rate on commercial mortgage-backed securities edged up in September to a new record of 9.05%, according to Trepp LLC.

Multifamily lenders closed $52.5 billion in loans in 2009, down 40% from the prior year, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.