Servicing

California is taking aim at the prices banks and insurers charge for force-placed home insurance, the state announced on Wednesday.

Even though national foreclosure filings decreased in February, 21 states posted annual increases in foreclosure activity, according to new figures compiled by RealtyTrac.

The inaugural Zillow Rent Index shows "a healthy and growing rental market" across most of the country, even as home values continue to fall. And according to Zillow's chief economist Stan Humphries, rents are not rising at the expense of home values. "The opposite is true."

Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and three other residential servicers agreed to pay $25 million to New York State to resolve certain monetary claims over the use of the MERS database after reaching a $25 billion national settlement on robo-signing charges.

Remember the good old days when mortgage bankers were considered the "good guys," the ones who put people in houses? And remember when it appeared that plenty of outside capital was itching to get into this industry?

The Obama administration's latest "housing scorecard" suggests there is some progress when it comes to servicers' ability to fulfill the aims of regulatory programs that encourage mortgage rehabilitation, according to one expert.

The size of the residential loan market over the short-term will be determined by the definition of 'qualified mortgage,' which is more important to the industry than the definition of 'qualified residential mortgage,' declared a top lending executive for BB&T speaking at the Regional Conference of the Mortgage Bankers Association in Atlantic City.

The release of the last few details of the $25 billion mortgage servicing settlement this week revealed a deal that was, overall, not quite as bad for the banks/mega-servicers as many observers and analysts expected.

While home values continue to fall nationwide, rental rates are soaring in many Metropolitan Statistical Areas, according to Zillow’s latest real estate market report.

Prior to the crackup of the housing market, most warehouse providers were ready, willing and able to extend credit to nonbank lending customers based on the value of their retained servicing rights. But then came the crash.