Servicing

New York's Department of Financial Services hammered banks over their relationships with force-placed insurers in a Friday hearing, challenging JPMorgan Chase officials on lucrative reinsurance arrangements that the Department suggested are tantamount to kickbacks.

Competition is heating up among banks in the government's revised Home Affordable Refinance Program, which has helped spark a refi boom and contributed to strong mortgage profits at most banks.

The National Flood Insurance Program is due to expire at the end of this month and the Senate still can’t seem to find a way to pass a short-term extension or move ahead with a comprehensive reform bill that re-authorizes the program for five years.

You remember the HARP program, don’t you? Originally, the idea was to refinance current but high LTV Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac borrowers into new, lower-rate loans—provided they were current. Home values (and lack of equity) reeked havoc on the concept so Uncle Sam took the LTV girdle off.

Mortgage interest rates may be at historically low levels, but the housing industry is not helping the overall economic recovery in the U.S. With the secondary market all but dried up except for Freddie and Fannie, who together purchased over three-quarters of originations in 2011, getting a mortgage these days is near impossible—perfect borrowers need only apply.

The long-term rate-indicative 10-year Treasury yield has officially dropped to and matched its 52-week low of 1.7%.

As the housing industry continues to make a recovery from the most recent recession, the theme of this year’s show in Dallas was “shifting gears to build for the future.” Some popular topics that were talked about among session panelists and attendees were short sales, strategic defaults strategies and the REO-to-rental initiative.

A pair of real estate investment firms agreed to invest $22.5 million of equity to acquire and recapitalize PJ Finance Company, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March 2011.

Investors who are interested in acquiring distressed properties are confident that there is an adequate supply of inventory available to choose from throughout the country, according to a survey by Information Management Network.

Let's assume that the recent downdraft in rates won't get any worse and then ask this very basic question: will those buying MSRs at today's rock bottom prices look like geniuses when the smoke finally clears?