Servicing

Foreclosure filings plummeted in the first half of the year, but 40% of local markets saw foreclosure starts increase, with the last housing bubble no longer to blame for the growth, according to Attom Data Solutions.

Healthier economic conditions, more effective underwriting methods and recovering hurricane-impacted states helped drive delinquency and foreclosure rates to their lowest level in over 10 years, according to CoreLogic.

A new court filing suggests that Stephen Calk was named to a 13-member economic advisory team in 2016 in exchange for approving a $9.5 million loan to former campaign manager Paul Manafort.

Mortgage industry hiring and new job appointments for the week ending July 6.

The Royal Bank of Scotland is paying $20 million to settle an investigation by the Illinois attorney general related to the bank's marketing and sale of residential mortgage-backed securities.

PricewaterhouseCoopers was ordered to pay the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. more than $625 million for negligence in the audit of Colonial BancGroup Inc., an Alabama bank holding company that failed during the financial crisis.

Freddie Mac will make automation it has been testing in conjunction with servicing-released cash sales available to the broader market next month.

With better-than-expected performance of the underlying mortgages, Fitch Ratings cut its loss projections for seasoned government-sponsored enterprise credit risk transfer deals.

The deal is designed to improve capital ratios and reduce risk at the Seattle company.

Commercial and multifamily mortgage debt outstanding grew $44.3 billion during the first three months of 2018, the largest first-quarter gain since before the Great Recession, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.