Servicing

Starting in January 2008 through August 2011, Menden admitted that he and a business partner, George Hranowskyj, conspired with Bank of Commonwealth insiders to purchase underperforming bank-owned properties in exchange for preferential lending treatment.

MGIC Investment Corp., the nation’s largest mortgage insurer in terms of policies-in-force, posted a $20 million loss for the first quarter, an improvement over the $34 million it dropped in the year-ago period.

More banks such as Puget Sound Bank, Umpqua Holdings and Wintrust Financial are reaching an inflection point for credit where bad assets are again a mere blip on the radar.

More light has been shed in the past week on two recent notable deals in mortgage-related securities markets and their potential ramifications.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency closed the $51.9 million-asset Fort Lee Federal Savings Bank. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. entered into a purchase agreement with Alma Bank in Astoria, N.Y., for $15.7 million of the failed thrift's assets.

Whole Loan Capital, LLC, New York, is in the market with a $4.8 billion 'flow' servicing deal that will be sourced through a handful of different lenders.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau poked its thumb in the eye of residential loan officers originating mortgages for depositories.

A delinquent loan currently takes approximately one year to become a foreclosure because of "extremely long" processing timelines, Sharga continued. Then, it takes anywhere from 500 to 700 days, depending upon whether the state is judicial or nonjudicial, for the foreclosure to become REO.

Delinquency rates in the fourth quarter of 2011 fell across all loan categories the trade group monitors, including credit cards, auto and home loans, the American Bankers Association reported.

Joseph Smith, the man responsible for ensuring that five of the nation's largest banks comply with the massive multi-state mortgage servicing settlement, has a stark message for the five banks involved: make sure your internal review teams are independent and thorough.