Foreclosures

Banks have ramped up foreclosure activity in the past five months, with default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions at their highest levels in two years. It's a positive sign that banks are finally clearing out all the distressed loans still lingering from the housing crisis. Meanwhile, banks remain cautious about new lending, partly because of regulatory actions.

Bank repossessions of distressed homes hit a 30-month high in July, as financial institutions continue to work through the backlog of bubble-era loans.

The delinquency rate in the second quarter for one- to four-unit homes fell to its lowest seasonally adjusted level in eight years, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Foreclosure inventory and completed foreclosures declined drastically during June, real estate analytics firm CoreLogic found in its monthly survey.

Ocwen Financial's internal review group is "independent," and the Atlanta servicer is in compliance with the national mortgage settlement, settlement monitor Joseph A. Smith said Tuesday.

A New York law that was invalidated by a federal judge was one of many efforts by big cities to pressure banks into making more investments in local communities after the crisis. Some municipal laws could be more vulnerable to bankers' legal challenges than others.

The delinquency rate for commercial mortgage-backed securities was little changed from June to July, according to Fitch Ratings.

A federal judge has overturned a New York City law that would have required banks to make new disclosures regarding their investments in local communities.

1st Service Solutions warned that the Las Vegas, Phoenix and Chicago markets could cause problems for commercial mortgage-backed securities investors.

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Years after the crisis, fundamental problems in default servicing still exist and in order to move forward, servicers must reimagine their processes to better manage overall volume and spikes in demand.

Bank of America has received approval for additional credit during the first quarter of 2015 from the independent monitor overseeing its compliance with the requirements of its mortgage settlement agreement.

Green River Capital has rolled out a new surveillance service for single-family rental properties called Retail Asset Management & Performance.

The Conference of State Bank Supervisors recently challenged college students to examine how community banks survived the financial crisis, and the contest highlighted innovative strategies used by Main Street banks such as Bank of American Fork in Utah.

Utah's attorney general revived a potential billion-dollar battle with Bank of America Corp. over foreclosure practices after two of his predecessors were charged with corruption for abandoning the fight.

The bankruptcy of Wingspan Portfolio Advisors epitomizes the existential crisis facing default servicing. This once-thriving sector of the mortgage industry now finds itself declining in lockstep with the drop in loan delinquencies and foreclosures.

F.N.B. in Pittsburgh reported higher second-quarter profit as it booked more commercial real estate and business loans.

Stewart Mortgage Information Systems is pulling the plug on its delinquent mortgage services business.

The U.S. mortgage delinquency rate, for loans at least 30 days late, fell 2.9% in June from the previous month, Black Knight Financial Services said in its monthly mortgage performance report.

Regulators gave conditional approval for CIT Group's deal to buy OneWest Bank, paving the way for an institution that would be deemed systemically important, with $70 billion in combined assets.