Servicing

Despite recent year-to-year declines in foreclosure filings, REO has risen to a record high for the third time in the last five months. But the latest figures suggest it is generally increasing at a more controlled pace in many areas, with the exception of states like California.

Evidence of sloppy mortgage servicing practices should come as no surprise to anyone who has paid attention to the industry during the foreclosure crisis.

Online auction house Countdown To Buy, Bethel, Conn., is giving reverse auctions a new real estate spin.The concept may not be novel in the Internet world but it certainly is new in the real estate world, founder and CEO, Jim Hodson says.

First mortgage lenders started recycling loan origination expertise by transferring, hiring and training originators to make up for shortages in the servicing side of the business.Now mortgage process based solutions that incorporate error-proof loan origination case management options transferable from origination to servicing and vice versa are gaining ground into the future.

The Treasury Department singled out the three largest banks — Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co. — for failing to properly solicit and consider homeowners for the government's loan modification program.

In its “Shadow Inventory Update” report, Standard & Poor’s estimates that the principal balance of distressed homes amounts to about $460 billion, representing nearly one-third of the nonagency residential mortgage-backed securities market currently outstanding.

While Fed officials are not ruling out future mortgage-backed securities purchases, there are some good reasons why they decided in August to reinvest principal payments into Treasuries instead, and that may play into any quantitative easing plans going forward.

Besides imposing a 5% risk retention requirement on securitizations by banks, the FDIC also spelled out new standards that are particularly tough and aimed solely at issuers of residential mortgage-backed securities.

Home prices have risen for four straight months, but the rate of growth has slowed, according to new figures tracked through the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller house price index.

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has asked Ally Financial to freeze all home foreclosures within its borders, saying his office is investigating "defective" documents filed by the company and its mortgage division, GMAC.