Loss mitigation

Citigroup's failure to pay 24,000 people owed money as part of a settlement with the government over foreclosure abuses has prompted Maxine Waters, the senior Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, to call for an investigation into whether banks missed other borrowers.

Wells Fargo is partnering with the National League of Cities to offer a webinar designed to mitigate foreclosures to the general public.

Foreclosure activity in February fell to its lowest level in nine years even though lenders repossessed more assets, according to data from RealtyTrac.

Hoping to deliver relief to Americans pounded by the financial crisis, the government has poured billions of dollars into a sort of Red Cross for homeowners.

Authorities unsealed a 40-count indictment against six individuals who allegedly targeted distressed homeowners with the false promise of loan modification services following the 2008 financial crisis.

Asset manager Distressed Capital Management bought more than $207 million in reperforming and nonperforming whole loans from the Royal Bank of Scotland in late February.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency won't keep renewing initiatives like the Home Affordable Refinance Program in perpetuity, even if it is extended again before it expires in December, Director Mel Watt said Wednesday.

Hope Now said nearly 1.9 million homeowners received some sort of mortgage assistance in 2014.

From new compliance scorecards to rethinking how to deal with consumer complaints, there's plenty to debate about the future of servicing. Here's a look at the most insightful and noteworthy discussions from this year's Mortgage Bankers Association servicing conference.

The scorecard compares issuers' operational strength and skill in managing delinquent loans with those of their peers.

Working as a team with all stakeholders is the only way to successfully maintain a foreclosed property and see it through conveyance to the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

A rally in a growing type of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac securities is vindicating Invesco Mortgage Capital Inc.'s decision to be a big player in the market.

The independent monitor overseeing Bank of America's compliance with requirements of its landmark mortgage settlement agreement has released his first report on the bank's consumer relief activities.

Foreclosures and delinquencies may seem like problems from the past, but servicers are still struggling with a massive backlog of distressed loans and a return to normalcy is at least two years away, if not longer.

The North Texas region has been a hub for mortgage servicing for decades, dating back to the oil bust and savings and loan crisis of the 1980s. Today, some key players and many smaller ones remain firmly entrenched in the area.

Protests by community groups and now a public hearing threaten to delay the completion of CIT's acquisition of OneWest Bank. The deal will probably get approved, and it might not get delayed too long, but all those "probablys" and "mights" are what make the proponents of more big M&A queasy.

The expiration of the federal Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act leaves servicers dealing with a patchwork of state laws and investor rules, while renters living in REO properties are at a greater risk of eviction.

Deval, a loan servicing company in Dallas, has received its Freddie Mac servicer approval.

Regulatory attention is supposed to be laser-focused on servicers right now, especially when it comes to how consistent they are in applying workouts. So regulators should be looking closely at whether loans have forbearance.

Homeowners associations seeking unpaid dues are seizing on a court decision allowing them to foreclose on properties ahead of banks, and the FHFA is litigating to defend Fannie and Freddie mortgages. Private lenders, meanwhile, are trying to keep the problem from spreading to more states.