Servicing

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is seeing significant improvement in the quality of new business at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as a result of tighter underwriting standards promulgated by the two.Moreover, FHFA chief Edward DeMarco said when it comes to loss mitigation efforts, the GSEs are making inroads, thanks to "more aggressive modifications" and other foreclosure prevention activities.

The Home Affordable Modification Program has been very selective in providing relief to homeowners, but its limited access has resulted in a low redefault rate.HAMP has helped nearly 400,000 struggling borrowers reduce their mortgage payments to 31% of income as part of a permanent modification.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. late Friday sold $400 million worth of securities as part of a pilot MBS aimed at clearing out billions of dollars of performing loans at receiverships.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd and Sen. Richard Shelby, the panel's senior Republican, called on President Obama Thursday to appoint a permanent director for the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

Interactive Mortgage Advisors, Denver, is selling a $1 billion portfolio of Freddie Mac servicing rights but with one caveat: the seller will not offer any representations and warranties on the deal.

Fannie Mae issued $40.2 billion of mortgage-backed securities in June, up 11% in May, but far below the $130 billion it issued in the same month a year ago during a major boom in refinancings.

The Dayton City Commission of Ohio recently approved a pilot program through which the Citywide Development Corp. and Wright-Patt Credit Union will leverage $2.1 million of federal grants obtained under last year's federal stimulus bill to provide low-cost funding for the redevelopment of foreclosed homes and abandoned properties.

As loan officers who don't meet the requirements drop out of the industry, the result could be a shortage of people to take applications -- at a time when demand for refinancings is historically high.

GSE foreclosure starts are accelerating along with HAMP cancellations, with most of the increase and volume concentrated in the six-plus month delinquent category, according to a new report from Lender Processing Services, Jacksonville, Fla.

Almost 26% of consumers have FICO scores below 600, an increase from the past two years and a reading that indicates it could be next to impossible for these borrowers to get a new mortgage.