Servicing

As the national foreclosure prevention campaign and other efforts have begun to mature, loan modification fraud is becoming more defined, increasingly falling into two categories.

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

Mortgage vulture fund investor Wilbur Ross has agreed to invest several million dollars in The Capital Markets Cooperative, taking a minority interest in the firm, which caters to both depositories and nonbank residential lenders.

Mortgage servicers signed off on 33,300 permanent HAMP modifications in August — the lowest number of completed restructurings since December 2009 when the Obama administration's foreclosure prevention program was just getting off the ground.

Mary Lou Christy, who at one time led the mortgage-backed securities trading desk at Fannie Mae, has joined a number of former agency and government officials at The Collingwood Group, a Washington-based business advisory firm.

Bank of America has decided to merge its Home Loan Services affiliate in Pittsburgh, a subprime specialty servicer, into its main servicing operation.

The Homeowner's HOPE Hotline has received over 122,000 calls per month in 2010, or over 5,500 calls from homeowners each day.

A capital markets veteran whose accomplishments include a pioneering effort in the United Kingdom’s mortgage-related securities market has joined hedge fund Titan Capital Group.

Responding to market demand, the Federal Housing Administration is now offering a newly modified version of the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage product that requires lower upfront premiums.

The majority of Americans believe that home prices will either hold steady or increase over the next year but one-third said they would be more likely to rent their next home if they were to move. This view could hold back the housing recovery for the time being, but in the long term lead to a stronger marketplace, said an executive with Fannie Mae, which conducted the survey.