Loss mitigation

Credit Plus in Salisbury, Md., has introduced loan repurchase insurance for mortgage lenders and servicers that use its verification products.

Agency and government loan programs will be a little different in the next 12 months. There also will be new rules for private-label securitizations, along with new products available to investors. Here is an overview.

Home Equity Conversion Mortgage servicers have received an additional three months to explore loss mitigation options when borrowers or their spouses have difficulty paying their property taxes and insurance.

Fannie Mae said that those affected by floods across the Midwest may have access to mortgage assistance.

East West Bancorp paid $118.4 million to terminate single-family and commercial shared-loss agreements with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., tied to a failed bank acquisition.

Fannie Mae has updated its underwriter servicing tool to make it easier for servicers to determine the eligibility of distressed homeowners for a loan modification.

HLP, formerly known as Hope LoanPort, has selected CoreLogic executive Faith Schwartz as chair of its board of directors.

From single-point-of-contact requirements to the need for better self-service options, servicers surveyed by National Mortgage News are taking a much-needed hard look at the full range of customer touch-points that they operate.

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

Freddie Mac has launched an auction of $1.2 billion of nonperforming loans, while Fannie Mae has announced the two winners of its recent auction of $1.24 billion of nonperforming loans.

Bank of America has paid more than $2.1 billion in consumer relief in the second quarter, making strides in paying the mortgage crisis-related penalties imposed by the Justice Department, an independent monitor announced Tuesday.

Investor expectations for preparing real estate owned properties for conveyance vary wildly and demand a tailored approach from servicers.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have put billions of dollars' worth of distressed mortgage assets up for sale this year, but small buyers acquiring carve-outs of these offerings are driving activity in this niche market.

Communication between homeowners and their servicers remains the most frequently reported challenge for housing counselors, the National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling program said.

While banks have significantly decreased their problem assets from their 2010 peak, sour credits remain much higher than in 2006. A number of banks have been reluctant to sell these assets because of low interest rates and a struggle to find better investments.

A Fair Housing Act lawsuit allowed to stand against a lender degrees removed from the alleged injury is one example of how broadly defined discrimination laws will open an abyss of litigation.

Freddie Mac has agreed to sell $1.1 billion of seriously delinquent nonperforming loans that had been serviced by Ocwen Financial.

Loan performance has improved since the housing crisis. But credit challenges persist, while higher housing costs combined with a plateau in wages have put increased strain on some borrowers' finances.

The rising costs to service mortgages reflects a market where there are not only downsides to being too small, but hurdles to being too large — raising the question of whether there's a middle ground where servicers are not too big, not too small, but just right.

If you have a modified mortgage made around the time of the U.S. housing market’s peak, Cerberus Capital Management probably wants to buy it.