Mortgage defaults

Ocwen Financial is fighting back against a group of large bondholders that have accused the Atlanta mortgage servicer of improper servicing practices and an alleged breach of trust.

Nationwide foreclosure activity in February approached its lowest point since the financial crisis, mortgage analytics firm Black Knight Financial Services concluded in its monthly "first look" report.

Freddie Mac is selling more than $1 billion of soured U.S. home loans in its largest sale of the debt. Potential buyers are bidding on three pools of nonperforming loans, with unpaid principal balances of about $660 million, $249 million and $125 million.

Many housing markets have seen more homes become trapped underwater during the fourth quarter although the nationwide negative equity rate didn't change, according to analytic firm Zillow.

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.

Mortgage default rates remained largely unchanged in February amidst mixed results nationwide, according to data released by S&P Dow Jones Indices and Experian.

The number of borrowers who owe more on their mortgage than the value of their home continued to improve last year, according to CoreLogic.

The sale of $16.7 billion in nonperforming loans by the Department of Housing and Urban Development Department helped the owners of about 16,700 homes avoid foreclosure, the agency said.

Foreclosure inventory nationwide continued to shrink as the number of homes lost to foreclosure declined in January, according to CoreLogic.

The recent delay of new HECM rules is a reprieve for lenders scrambling to implement training and systems updates ahead of the original deadline. But it's also prompted questions about a key technology used by the reverse mortgage industry.

MGIC Investment Corp. saw its inventory of delinquent loans resume its reduction in February after growing the month prior.

Despite an increase in housing affordability, both first-time and repeat foreclosure starts reached 12-month highs in January, according to Black Knight Financial Services.

Ocwen Financial's termination as servicer of two residential mortgage securitizations has no immediate impact on the strength of the company, but it does set a "negative precedent" that could eventually lead to the servicer being fired from more deals, Moody's Investors Service warns.

The City of New Orleans is planning its first online auction to sell 1,786 adjudicated properties.

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.

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

JPMorgan Chase has agreed to a $50.4 million settlement with the Justice Department for robo-signing documents sent to homeowners in bankruptcy and for related abuses.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency released a set of new rules for the sale of troubled mortgages by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.