Servicing

Rules enacted last year appear to be steadily forcing banks to exit the mortgage servicing business, transferring such rights to nonbanks. The situation is stoking fears on Capitol Hill and elsewhere that regulators went too far.

The demolitions in this Michigan city of about 100,000 people are part of the stepped up efforts by officials in several Midwestern states to rid their blighted neighborhoods of decayed housing that's depressing prices.

Two of the three major nonbank servicers are sticking by plans to acquire portfolios from banks this year, in spite of regulatory scrutiny and concern they are growing too fast.

Big data will hit its stride when tailored to vertical markets and their specific needs. Mortgage Servicing is an excellent example.

Woodward Asset Capital has started a real estate brokerage brand catering specifically to property sellers, including banks and mortgage servicers unloading foreclosed homes.

Loan modifications continued their dominance as the primary method for foreclosure prevention in 2013, both through government-driven and proprietary servicer programs.

The National Fair Housing Alliance is accelerating efforts to force mortgage lenders, servicers and trustees to do a better job of maintaining foreclosed properties in minority neighborhoods.

Real estate mortgage investment conduit rules generally discourage non-distressed securitized loan sales, but SN Servicing says it had reasons to sell some at a loss in this 2002 scratch-and-dent deal.

Also, loan officer compensation trial victory for Prospect Mortgage and employment contract news.

Freddie Mac will return $10.4 billion in profits to the Treasury Department next month, bringing total payments to about $10 billion above what it got in aid under conservatorship.