Servicing

U.S. Central Federal Credit Union reported late Monday that growing losses on its portfolio of private-label mortgage-backed securities created a $39.4 million loss for its second quarter, and an $84.8 million loss for the first-half of the year.

Securities industry representatives responding to the just-completed comment period for the Securities and Exchange Commission's Reg AB are largely supportive of the proposed changes aimed at restoring transparency and investor confidence in mortgage-backed securities markets, but have larger concerns about the proposal and whether it can be applied across the board to non-mortgage asset-backed securities markets.

WASHINGTON — Senate appropriators are annoyed at the slow implementation of the government's Home Affordable Mortgage Program and want residential servicers — including the nation's megabanks — to be held accountable.

A small private-label 'scratch and dent' securitization backed by government reverse mortgages appears to be the first deal of this type, and could pave the way for more reverse MBS deals in the struggling private-label market.

The BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico could reduce home values in the immediate region by as much as $3 billion over the next five years, according to a new report from CoreLogic.

The state of the U.S. banking system has "improved significantly" since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in the fall of 2008, but lending standards remain too tight, according to Federal Reserve Board chairman Ben Bernanke.

Research conducted by VantageScore Solutions counters the popular notion that a consumer's credit score would take a big hit if his or her mortgage were to be modified.The company's president and chief executive Barrett Burns continued that entering a trial modification program would have no impact on the credit score in most circumstances.

Washington-While the government's HAMP program has had limited success, proprietary loan mods have become an important safety net.

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.