Servicing

Mortgage applications rose 4.9% last week as more borrowers refinanced at the lowest rates in decades, according to new figures released by the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Specialized Loan Servicing LLC, Littleton, Colo., has hired Oscar Southall as senior vice president of default operations.

Fitch Ratings is worried that JPMorgan Chase could be overwhelmed by future mortgage repurchase requests from investors in the secondary market, namely Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The nation's top accounting standard setter is retiring.Robert Herz, the chairman of the Financial Accounting Standards Board, announced that he will step down after eight years. Leslie Seidman, a FASB board member since 2003 and a former JPMorgan Chase & Co. accounting policy vice president, was appointed acting chairman, effective Oct. 1.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell to a new yearly low Wednesday morning — 2.42% — after yet another disappointing report on home sales.

The search for ways to reinvent collateral risk management, avoid long property vacancies and preservation costs keeps leading the industry into the path of preventive strategies.

Home price improvements which first generated hope that the mortgage market had started to head out of the crisis are once again indicating a status quo or dubious overall recovery with few exceptions.

Pessimists may not prevail, yet fear of a double-dip recession persists among homeowners and industry insiders despite the economic benefits generated by government assistance programs.

Almost 14% of loan modifications completed in the first quarter of 2010 involved principal reductions of at least 10%, according to the State Foreclosure Prevention Working Group.

Fannie Mae is opening an office in Chicago this week to provide hands-on assistance to borrowers who are at risk of losing their homes.