Mortgages

First-quarter cumulative defaults for fixed-rate commercial mortgage-backed securities were up 18 basis points from the end of 2012 at 13.6%.

Tandy Katanis received 81 months in prison for forging names on home equity loan documents.

Mortgage Grapevine poster SFranny has a question about the Federal Housing Administration’s streamlined refinance program. An old client is looking to apply for one of these loans and is asking if a second lien loan can be subordinated. To see more, go to http://bit.ly/15RD8Y7.

ViewPoint Financial Group said the average balance of mortgage loans in its Warehouse Participation Program fell 19% in 1Q13 compared with 4Q12. However, when compared with 1Q12, there was a 16% increase.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is calling on the credit scoring and reporting agencies “to stop the lowering of credit scores” for Hurricane Sandy victims.

Bank of America and American Asset Corp. have settled their dispute over 10 loans, ending the litigation between the bank and various borrowers; AAC controls and manages those properties.

Moody’s Investors Service Thursday afternoon downgraded $56 million in legacy subprime residential mortgage-backed securities from various trusts primarily in response to weak interest shortfall reimbursement mechanisms and recent performance reviews.

PennyMac Mortgage Investment Trust has priced a private offering by its PennyMac Corp. subsidiary, a $200 million aggregate principal amount of its exchangeable senior notes due 2020.

The company also reported its first-quarter earnings were up 18%.

As housing markets continue to stabilize across the country with rising home prices and inventories shrinking in these cities, this ultimately leads to the possibility for a higher potential of mortgage fraud.

Lender Processing Services had net income of $54 million in 1Q13, a 13% increase over the $47 million earned in the same quarter last year, even though revenue decreased 3% between the two periods. In 4Q12, when it settled some of the legal matters, LPS earned $2.8 million.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development is reviewing the qualified mortgage rule and it may modify the safe harbor provision for Federal Housing Administration-insured loans.

Aligning key mortgage servicing indicators and best practices with the Customer Financial Protection Bureau guidelines is a win-win for servicers.

CoreLogic reported in its first-quarter results that it had acquired Case-Shiller from Fiserv back on March 20 for $6 million.

It was a good first quarter at the nation’s second, third and fourth largest title insurance underwriters as all three reported improved earnings over the same period in 2012.

A new advertising campaign is targeting New York’s struggling homeowners who may be unaware of the $60 million available to provide them free counseling and legal assistance.

Remodeling activity is expected to gain steam over the next 12 months as more and more owners regain some of the equity they lost in their homes during the recession.

Deutsche Bank must face a lawsuit by Los Angeles claiming the bank let foreclosed properties in low-income neighborhoods fall into disrepair and illegally evicted tenants to sell foreclosed buildings.

Blackstone Group bought 1,400 properties in Atlanta, some eligible for federal low-income housing subsidies, in the biggest bulk purchase for the fledgling homes-for-lease industry.

Freddie Mac purchased nearly $52 billion in mortgage loans and securities in March, up 21% from the prior month.