Servicing

Wells Fargo & Co. has agreed to pay $24 million to end an investigation by eight states looking into allegations that lenders acquired by the bank made risky payment option ARMs to consumers without disclosing their perils.

Ohio became the first state to sue a major servicer in the growing 'Foreclosure-gate' scandal, accusing the government-owned GMAC Mortgage of misleading the courts in hundreds of foreclosure cases by filing fraudulent affidavits.

PHH Corp., which controls the nation's eighth largest servicer, is likely to take a $100 million writedown on the value of its mortgage servicing rights in the third quarter, according to a new research report from FBR Capital Markets.

Bank of America, which stunned the mortgage industry Tuesday by exiting the wholesale channel, says the credit quality on its broker-source loans is quite good, but it will exit the channel nonetheless.

Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray said that on Wednesday afternoon he will unveil a civil fraud case against a "national loan servicer," charging that company with foreclosure fraud in regard to hundreds of loans in the state.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury dropped to 2.36% Wednesday from levels closer to 2.48% the day before.

In conjunction with efforts under the Making Home Affordable Program, a new initiative called Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives has been employed to help eligible borrowers who were not able to complete a permanent modification under HAMP or other alternative home retention options.

Prospects in the global real estate sector are "dismal" and the downturn could last for up to eight years, according to a new warning from the International Monetary Fund.

Bankers Portfolio LLC has teamed up with an aggregator to launch a correspondent channel that will purchase FHA-insured Hope for Homeowner loans on a servicing-released basis.

The National Housing Conference is urging the Treasury Department and Federal Housing Finance Agency to remove restrictions on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's multifamily programs.