Servicing

Fannie Mae intends to replace traditional force-placed insurance on its loans with policies from a provider of its choosing, a move that could upend big banks' controversial force-placed insurance practices.

Whether the servicing operation is owned by a bank with an origination arm or not, HARP 2.0 represents both a great opportunity and a real risk for mortgage servicers.

Outstanding residential debt serviced by mortgage banking firms fell to $9.1 trillion at yearend, the lowest reading since the third quarter of 2007, according to new figures compiled by National Mortgage News and the Quarterly Data Report.

American Indian housing assistance is perennially underfunded, a trend continued in the Administration's fiscal 2013 budget request. $1 billion would be a good starting point, instead of the current $650 million.

President Barack Obama said 2 to 3 million existing FHA borrowers will be able to refinance at a lower interest rate under a new Federal Housing Administration streamline program that cuts mortgage insurance premiums in half.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will issue mortgage servicing rules this year that would impose new limits on force-placed insurance products and require additional disclosures for adjustable-rate mortgages, Director Richard Cordray said Tuesday.

Despite real estate-owned saturation rates rising, national home prices through February reached the lowest levels of decline in over 10 months, according to the real estate asset valuation provider Clear Capital.

The government's Home Affordable Refinancing Program has a major flaw, according to one industry veteran -- it doesn't give borrowers a financial incentive to stay in the home.

As if appraisal management companies, readily available automated valuation models and broker priced opinion options were not enough challenges to the real estate appraisal profession, well-intended federal and state regulations are generating new controversy.

Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corp. had nearly 2,000 more loans cure in February compared with the number of new default notices received during the month.