Foreclosures

WASHINGTON — JPMorgan Chase and EverBank were released from business restrictions stemming from the foreclosure reviews that originated in 2011, but also face new civil money penalties for their earlier violations of those restrictions, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said Tuesday.

The delinquency rate on commercial mortgage-backed securities rose slightly in December, according to Trepp.

From the rollercoaster ride toward the TILA-RESPA implementation deadline to concerns about other areas the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau would zero in on for scrutiny, these seven stories dominated National Mortgage News during 2015. Following are both the stories and an update on where the situation stands now.

Property Assessed Clean Energy loans have been available in Florida since 2010, but lending, as well as securitization of these loans, has lagged far behind California largely due to a series of lawsuits challenging the program's validity.

The rate of mortgage loan delinquencies fell in November, according to Black Knight Financial Services.

SingleSource Property Solutions in Canonsburg, Pa., has merged with iMortgage Services in Pittsburgh.

In their search for ways to shift the credit risk of mortgages from taxpayers to capital markets, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may be overlooking important players: the lenders that make these loans in the first place.

The number of homes in foreclosure and the rate of completed foreclosures both declined in October, CoreLogic said.

The number of homes in negative equity continued to shrink, but overall levels of negative equity remain high and are holding back a full-scale housing market recovery, according to Zillow.

American Homes 4 Rent, the largest publicly traded U.S. single-family home landlord, agreed to acquire a smaller competitor, American Residential Properties, in a deal valued at $1.5 billion, including debt.

When news broke in October that New York's Stuyvesant Town was being sold, observers expected the $3 billion loan on the property to be paid off without a glitch.

The commercial mortgage-backed securities delinquency rate improved by double-digit basis points in November, fulfilling Trepp's forecast for a large monthly improvement.

Loan modifications declined 18% during the third quarter to 337,000, a sign of an improving market, according to Hope Now.

The delinquency rate for commercial and multifamily mortgages improved for most categories of investors in the third quarter, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Pacific Investment Management Co. sued Citigroup Inc. over the bank's role as trustee for $13.8 billion of mortgage-backed securities made toxic when the housing bubble burst, leading to "substantial damages."

Three county governments in metro Atlanta have sued Bank of America for engaging in the practice of equity stripping, where the bank targeted minority borrowers with high-interest mortgage loans.

mortgage delinquencies, mortgage loans, Black Knight Financial Services

Default rates on various types of consumer loans improved in October, according to Standard & Poor's and Experian.

Delinquencies on residential mortgages in the third quarter declined on a national recovery in housing prices and other factors, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

The number of underperforming loans transferred to special-servicing status dropped in October, according to Fitch Ratings.