Servicing

Fraudsters in today's mortgage market are "quite entrepreneurial," coming up with new ways to scheme against borrowers, according to speakers at the SourceMedia Second Annual Best Practices in Loss Mitigation Conference in Dallas.The beginning of foreclosure rescue fraud starts typically when a servicer publishes a public notice concerning the homeowner. In a modification scheme, they offer a "modification for money and they never deliver."

Roughly 22% of consumers who refinanced their first liens in the second quarter also used the opportunity to pay down their mortgage, according to new figures released by Freddie Mac.

The Advertising Council, in partnership with the Department of the Treasury and Department of Housing and Urban Development, is launching a national advertising campaign to encourage homeowners struggling with their monthly mortgage payments to learn about the Making Home Affordable Program.

Wanigas Credit Union, Saginaw, Mich., was granted $384,000 from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Indianapolis to help finance homeownership in foreclosed homes.

Mark Linne of Appraisal World feels the appraising profession he embraced 27 years ago is at a crossroads.

He compares it with how travel agents may have felt when virtual travel agents like Expedia or Travelocity started operating their Internet-only businesses.

"In the course of just a few brief years the whole profession changed." For appraisers it is a mix of challenges that include technology, changing regulation, a very severe economic downturn, even loss of credibility from banking clients.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is seeing significant improvement in the quality of loans at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as a result of tighter underwriting standards promulgated by the two.

M.E. Mike Wileman, president and CEO of Orion Financial Group, Southlake, Texas, which specializes in real estate-owned property document retrieval, assignments and other assistance for servicers who manage their own portfolios presents, brought to the Second Annual SourceMedia Loss Mitigation Conference in Dallas on July 21-22 one of the perks offered to attendees, an iPad.

Bogus schemes to help troubled borrowers save their homes from foreclosure were the fastest growing source of consumer complaints in 2009, according to an annual survey conducted by the Consumer Federation of America.

The U.S. homeownership rate slipped below 67% in the second quarter to the lowest level since 1999 as foreclosures and high unemployment continue to take their toll on the housing market.

The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association is now backing efforts to establish legislative framework for European-style covered bonds in the United States, adding momentum to the effort as it resurfaces in Washington.