Servicing

MetLife Inc. said it will exit the reverse lending business selling the division to Nationstar Mortgage of Texas.

Three out of the four national title insurance underwriters reported improved results for the first quarter, with two of them—First American and Old Republic—turning year-ago losses into profits.

It appears that higher premiums are starting to have a profound effect on the FHA’s “streamline” refinancing program.

Residential Capital Corp./GMAC earned $217 million in the first quarter, but its residential originations plummeted by 53%, as the near-closing of its correspondent division weighed heavily.

Changes made to the Obama administration's flagship mortgage refinance program, HARP, have boosted profits at the nation's largest banks at the expense of homeowners and U.S. taxpayers, according to mortgage experts testifying at a Senate hearing this week.

Fannie Mae this week established new timelines to expedite residential short sales as required by its regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

At the start of this year, nearly one in four mortgages was underwater and 4.5 million mortgages were seriously delinquent. And today, some studies estimate that as many as 10 million borrowers are at risk of defaulting on their mortgages in the coming years. One of the problems that has made things even harder for struggling homeowners is the state of the mortgage servicing industry.

Freddie Mac purchased $42 billion of mortgages from its seller/servicers in March, its strongest acquisition month since the refinancing boom of late 2010.

National home values experienced their largest monthly gain since May 2006 by increasing 0.5% in March, according to Zillow’s Home Value Index.

It's been a bumpy ride in recent quarters, but loan-loss provisions have gradually tapered off and early signs from first-quarter reports suggest that lower provisions may be here to stay.