Loss mitigation

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has dropped an investigation into Altisource, a mortgage servicing technology firm with close ties to Ocwen Financial.

The New York Department of Financial Services is fining Nationstar Mortgage $5 million for failing to comply with servicing and origination regulations as it grew between 2012 and 2014.

Hope LoanPort will receive funding and guidance to expand its loss mitigation platform for servicers, housing counselors and mortgage borrowers from the Finance of America Foundation, a nonprofit with ties to former Rep. Barney Frank.

Freddie Mac is now accepting bids on $420 million in nonperforming loans, its first NPL sale of 2018.

Almost two years after settling mortgage securitization allegations with the Department of Justice and a group of states, Goldman Sachs has fulfilled more than half of its consumer relief commitment.

A new due diligence firm created by a trio of former Clayton Holdings executives wants to shake up a static business model.

Communication between all parties in the chain, from borrower through guarantor, is the best way to minimize mortgage losses after events like last year’s hurricanes and wildfires, according to servicers and federal officials.

Mortgage servicers should approach efforts to overhaul their compensated structure with caution, as changes to the status quo "could have ripple effects across the entire real estate finance industry," warned Mortgage Bankers Association Chairman David Motley.

From insights about borrower payment preferences to new automation assisting with natural disaster recovery efforts, here's a roundup of news coming out of the Mortgage Bankers Association Servicing Conference.

Servicers that handle loans in the government's Making Home Affordable program could face more enforcement at the urging of the Special Investigator General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

The weighted average FICO credit scores of securitized reperforming loans are deteriorating a little, according to a DBRS study of the bonds.

Laurie Maggiano, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's program manager for servicing and secondary markets, died on Sunday.

PHH Corp. agreed to a $45 million settlement to resolve allegations from 49 states and the District of Columbia that it engaged in "foreclosure process abuses" involving "inconsistent signatures" in its servicing business from 2009 to 2012. The settlement comes as the nonbank mortgage company continues its legal challenge to a separate regulatory action by the CFPB.

Residential and commercial property tax delinquencies are slightly higher in the Northeast and South than in the Midwest and West, but improving economic conditions are keeping the national delinquency rate in check.

Cutting payments helps stave off default, but principal reduction on underwater loans and lower consumer debt levels are less effective, according to JPMorgan Chase Institute's new study of post-crisis modifications.

Late payments from borrowers living in areas hardest hit by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma were responsible for October's increase in loan delinquencies.

Fannie Mae servicers are facing pressure from the recent hurricanes, but so far are bearing up under the strain.

Ocwen Financial Corp. will move its servicing portfolio to Black Knight's LoanSphere MSP system of record, following years of regulatory scrutiny of its existing technology provided by Altisource Portfolio Solutions.

Credit Suisse's plan for consumer relief in a multibillion-dollar Department of Justice settlement related to residential mortgage-backed securities could reduce the costs involved, according to the settlement monitor's first report.

The way lenders need to submit payment information on certain student loans in order to calculate a borrower's monthly debt-to-income ratio is changing at Freddie Mac.