Servicing

On July 17, an indictment was issued in New Jersey charging 11 individuals from five states a for their alleged roles in a $15 million mortgage fraud scam that used phony documents and straw buyers to make illegal profits on overbuilt condos, including a defendant who attempted to murder a witness to the scheme.

Lender Processing Services found that overall 7.14% of mortgages were in arrears as of June and estimates that its figures encompass 70% of the overall market.

A new Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization workgroup intends to create a universal loan document identification protocol that would be based on loan-specific data and enable any entity across the lending process to use a common formula to create or recreate the unique identifier.

Stewart Information Services Corp. saw its net earnings increase 319% from 2Q11, while First American Financial Corp. had its best title margins since 2005 as it earned $73 million, more than double the $32 million in 2Q11 profits.

EverBank Financial originated $2.7 billion of loans and leases in the second quarter, up 19% from the first quarter and 89% from the year ago.

In metropolitan cities that have at least 200,000 people, foreclosure activity increased in 125 out of 212 markets in the first half of this year compared to the prior six months.

The worst of the credit crisis has passed, but many banks are still living on borrowed time. So contends Kamal Mustafa, the chairman and chief executive of Invictus Consulting Group, which specializes in stress-testing banks.

Regions Financial's second-quarter earnings spiked as the Birmingham, Ala., company managed to reduce expenses and problem loans.

New York Community Bancorp Inc. earned $58 million from its mortgage banking division in the second quarter, a handsome 66% gain from the prior quarter, and an almost fourfold increase from the same period a year ago.

Although there still are risks to be accounted for, Wayne Tew believes this is a good time to be in the mortgage business.