Servicing

Attorney General Eric Holder recently launched the Consumer Protection Working Group to combat consumer fraud nationwide, which has the capability to cripple households and cause extensive losses to the economy.

A short sale is considered a more favorable outcome for a troubled homeowner because after the transaction, a borrower can walk away with a better chance to rebuild their credit after avoiding foreclosure. The price is usually higher than a foreclosure or REO sale because the property was occupied and maintained by the owner.

United Guaranty Corp., Greensboro, N.C., the nation's third largest mortgage insurer, Tuesday named Kim Garland to be the firm's new president and CEO.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is turning its attention to short sales as part of its "servicing alignment" project.

The national mortgage delinquency rate fell to 7.97% in January, a slight sequential improvement, and an 11% drop from the same month a year ago, according to "first look" figures compiled by Lender Processing Services.

Mortgage technology vendor CoreLogic this week unveiled a new default servicing platform that includes nine modules that interconnect within its architecture.

Apple co-founder Steve Jobs revolutionized the computer, phone and music industries. But mortgage banking? Okay, so Apple (from what we know) has no designs on mortgage banking, but it's interesting to think about it because the inventor of the iPhone/iTouch/iPad and other gadgets is sitting on roughly $100 billion of cash and securities.

Navy Federal Credit Union, Merrifield, Va., the largest CU player in mortgages, plans to hire as many as 600 employees at its Pensacola, Fla., call center campus to accommodate growth.

Fitch is concerned that some CMBS special servicers are charging undisclosed fees to borrowers seeking modifications and fears the practice may be the beginning of a trend.

Given the ugly employment picture in the U.S., now isn't exactly the best time for a company to be crowing about how cheap its labor costs are thanks to overseas outsourcing. But don't tell that to Ocwen Financial, soon to become the nation's largest specialty servicer.