Servicing

Fannie Mae's issuance of mortgage-backed securities fell 39% in July from the previous month, according to the company's new monthly activity report. The mortgage giant issued $79.7 billion in MBS during July, compared to $130 billion in June. At the same time, its commitments to purchase loans jumped 42% in July to $103.6 billion, a sign that residential production could be picking up. Freddie Mac recently reported a 30% decline in July MBS issuance along with a 33% drop in purchases of refinanced mortgages. Freddie said it purchased $34.1 billion in refinancings in July, but Fannie has stopped reporting refinancing volumes. However, their regulator reported that Fannie purchased 264,317 refinanced loans in July and Freddie purchased 158,182 refinancings. Based on Freddie's average loan size, Fannie purchased approximately $57 billion in refinancings. Fannie also said 3.9% of its single-family mortgages in June were 90 days or more past due, up from 1.36% a year ago.

Wells Fargo/Wachovia Bank tops the list of firms in the Mortgage Bankers Association's midyear ranking of commercial and multifamily mortgage servicers, with $476.2 billion in U.S. master and primary servicing. PNC Real Estate/Midland Loan Services follows on the list, with $308.5 billion, followed by Capmark Finance with $248.7 billion, KeyBank Real Estate Capital with $133.1 billion, Bank of America with $132.2 billion and GEMSA Loan Services with $104.8 billion. Wells Fargo/Wachovia Bank, PNC/Midland, Capmark and Bank of America are the largest master and primary servicers of commercial/multifamily loans in U.S. CMBS, CDO and other ABS; GEMSA Loan Services, Prudential Asset Resources, PNC/Midland, and Northwestern Mutual are the largest servicers for life companies; PNC/Midland, Wells Fargo/Wachovia Bank, Deutsche Bank and Capmark are the largest Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac servicers.

The findings of the J.D. Power and Associates 2009 Primary Mortgage Servicer Satisfaction Study suggest that a more proactive customer contact will help servicers improve customer retention rates. It found among those who contacted their mortgage servicer, customer satisfaction averages 613 on a 1,000-point scale, compared with 651 points among those customers whose mortgage servicer initiated contact. "Taking care of customers in their hour of need is critically important, particularly among homeowners with otherwise blemish-free credit histories ... can form lasting positive impressions of servicers and create lifelong customers," says J.D. Power and Associates director of financial services, David Lo. "For example, of customers who say their servicer was helpful in dealing with their current situation, 21% say they definitely will use their servicer again. Only 1% of customers who say their servicer was not helpful plan to use their servicer again." The study is based on the primary mortgage servicer experiences of over 5,000 homeowners and took place during May 2009. The primary mortgage servicers with the highest customer satisfaction rate scores were Regions Mortgage with 780 for its performance in the annual account review/administration and payment processing areas, followed by Branch Banking and Trust with 777 and U.S. Bank with 771. It also found that 18% of customers who contacted their servicer had difficulty understanding the representative. Among this group, contact satisfaction declines dramatically to an average of 353, usually because the representative spoke with an accent, did not speak well or articulate clearly. This is compared with an average of 707 among customers who didn't have any difficulty understanding their representative.

Appraisal management companies are not to blame for real estate deals falling apart, the chief compliance officer for the nation's first AMC said in an interview. Donald Blanchard of Lender Processing Services, the parent of LSI, an AMC which has been in business 25 years, said that while his company is "agnostic" concerning the Home Valuation Code of Conduct, it has decided to get out the word that AMCs are not the source of the problem. He cited statistics that show home values nationwide are down 15% to 20%; consequently property valuations would be lower. Furthermore, we are in a slow recovery process from the tumult of the last few years. Another contributory factor is that about 30% of home sales right now are from real estate-owned or distressed sales, which also bring down values. The company checked its data, he said, and found that 85% of the appraisals last year met the underwriting criteria for the loan to be made. Mr. Blanchard addressed some of the other myths HVCC opponents have been pushing. For example, supposedly AMCs use inexperienced appraisers. LSI has some 20,000 appraisers on its panel, with an average tenure of over 13 years. There is a requirement of three years experience just to get on the panel, he said. The next myth is that AMCs don't pay fair fees. LSI's fees have been stable for five years and its panel appraisers understand the value added by being a member. As for the argument of out-of-area appraisers, the No. 1 criteria used to assign jobs is proximity.

Capital constraints on mortgage insurance companies could impede the ability of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to keep up with the demand for mortgage financing during the housing recovery, according to a report by the government-sponsored enterprises' regulator. Former Federal Housing Finance Agency director James Lockhart has been urging the Treasury Department to provide capital assistance for the private MIs since last November. The Mortgage Insurance Cos. of America also is seeking assistance. "We have a request pending and we are waiting for a response," said MICA spokesman Jeff Lubar. The GSEs can purchase single-family mortgages with loan-to-value ratios higher than 80% only if the homebuyer gets mortgage insurance. The FHFA Mortgage Market Note issued a day before Mr. Lockhart's August 21st departure projects that the demand for such high LTV loans could hit $230 billion in 2009. The ability of the MIs to meet that level of demand is "remote," the FHFA report says. "The industry's ability to build and maintain sufficient capital to meet the needs of the enterprises over the short term without some federal assistance or an infusion of private capital is unclear," the report concludes.

Colonial BancGroup, the holding company for the now-defunct Alabama bank, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, listing assets of just $45 million against debts of $380 million. Up until recently the bank - sold 10 days ago by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to BB&T - was the nation's largest warehouse lender to nonbank mortgage lenders. Its largest unsecured creditor is the Bank of New York Trust Co., which is owed $254 million. The debt is related to the issuance of subordinated notes. A Florida affiliate of the bank is owed an additional $104 million.

Bank of America maintained its perch as the nation's largest residential servicer in the second quarter but its portfolio declined by 2% compared to the first quarter, a sign that the refinancing boom could be wreaking havoc on its ability to recapture its own customers. According to exclusive survey figures collected by National Mortgage News, BoA ranked first at June 30 with $2.062 trillion in housing receivables. Compared to the same period a year ago BoA's portfolio of home loans grew by 281% but most of that growth was due to its purchase of Countrywide Financial Corp., a deal that closed on July 1 of last year. National Mortgage News also found that BoA's market share fell slightly, as did the share for Wells Fargo & Co. and the JPMorgan-owned Chase, the nation's No. 2 and No. 3 ranked servicers, respectively. Wells' servicing portfolio grew slightly from 1Q but Chase's declined. For the full rankings and story see the Monday, Aug. 31 issue of NMN.

Freddie Mac reported a 30% drop in the issuance of mortgage-backed securities in July, compared to the previous month, as refinancing activity slowed dramatically. Freddie said it issued $43 billion in MBS in July, down from $61.1 billion in June when it experienced heavy seasonal deliveries from some of its largest customers. Refinancing activity also dropped off by 33% from the previous month. Purchases of refinanced loans totaled $34.1 billion in July, down from $50.9 billion in June. Freddie has issued $302.7 billion in MBS during the first seven months of this year, compared to $269.8 billion in the same period last year. The government-sponsored enterprise also reported a 17 basis point monthly increase in its single-family delinquency rate. The percentage of Freddie loans 90 days or more past due and in foreclosure rose to 2.95% in July, up from 1.01% a year ago.

House prices rose 1.4% in June following a 0.5% increase in May as the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller 20-city house price index registered its first consecutive monthly increase in nearly three years. However, Yale University professor Robert Shiller cautioned that it may not be a turning point due to high unemployment and the large inventories of foreclosed homes weighing on the market. Despite the upward momentum in house prices, "I would express great reluctance in forecasting where we are going from here, because we have conflicting signals right now," Mr. Shiller said. The June HPI shows that house prices are down 15.4% from a year ago and down 30.2% from their peak in the second quarter of 2006. However, only 2 cities, Detroit and Las Vegas, in the 20-city HPI experienced price declines from May to June. "For the second month in a row, we're seeing some positive signs," said David Blitzer, chairman of S&P's index committee.

The increasing number of borrowers "underwater" on their U.S. prime credit mortgages appears to be behind a decrease in private-label securitized loans' delinquency cure rates, according to Fitch Ratings. Fitch said this trend indicates other loan performance problems may be mounting even though the number of U.S. prime RMBS loans rolling into a delinquency status has slowed. Fitch defines delinquency cure rates as the percentage of delinquent loans returning to a current payment status each month. It said these have dropped from an average of 45% during 2000-2006 to the current level of 6.6%.