Servicing

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has expanded the small servicer exemption fivefold to include community banks and credit unions that service up to 5,000 mortgages.

Residential Capital won court approval to try to sell a pool of defaulted loans with a balance of about $130 million.

The average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage slid two basis points to 3.38% in Freddie Mac’s latest weekly survey.

Foreclosure activity in 2012 increased in 25 states, with the majority using the court system to file the foreclosure.

Noninterest income in the fourth quarter at PNC Financial Services Group was impacted by the previously announced $254 million provision related to mortgage loan repurchase requests.

In an interview, Morris Morgan, the federal government's point man for the painstaking review of 3.8 million mortgage loans, provided new details about the $8.5 billion deal regulators cut with 10 servicers last week and how it almost fell apart during negotiations.

CoreLogic reports an additional 100,000 borrowers moved from negative to positive equity status during the third quarter of 2012.

Bank of America saw its profits fall in the fourth quarter after several mortgage-related problems were settled as a result of the financial crisis.

National Mortgage Insurance Corp. has cleared two of the biggest hurdles it faced before being able to start writing private mortgage insurance policies.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is concerned many mortgage servicers are not acting in the best interest of loan owners or investors and more communication between the two parties is needed.