Mortgages

UGL Services has launched a new group to provide financial analytics support and advisory services for commercial real estate distressed assets, leasing deals and capital markets-related transactions.

Attorney General Eric Holder recently launched the Consumer Protection Working Group to combat consumer fraud nationwide, which has the capability to cripple households and cause extensive losses to the economy.

A short sale is considered a more favorable outcome for a troubled homeowner because after the transaction, a borrower can walk away with a better chance to rebuild their credit after avoiding foreclosure. The price is usually higher than a foreclosure or REO sale because the property was occupied and maintained by the owner.

United Guaranty Corp., Greensboro, N.C., the nation's third largest mortgage insurer, Tuesday named Kim Garland to be the firm's new president and CEO.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is turning its attention to short sales as part of its "servicing alignment" project.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is determined to continue its mission of shrinking the balance sheets of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and plans only to add product when the two need to buy delinquent mortgages out of delinquent MBS pools.

A majority of Supreme Court justices seem convinced that RESPA is simply an anti-kickback statute -- but may rule that the 1974 law has a broader reach if they defer to HUD's interpretation concerning unearned loan fees.

The national mortgage delinquency rate fell to 7.97% in January, a slight sequential improvement, and an 11% drop from the same month a year ago, according to "first look" figures compiled by Lender Processing Services.

Mortgage technology vendor CoreLogic this week unveiled a new default servicing platform that includes nine modules that interconnect within its architecture.

Apple co-founder Steve Jobs revolutionized the computer, phone and music industries. But mortgage banking? Okay, so Apple (from what we know) has no designs on mortgage banking, but it's interesting to think about it because the inventor of the iPhone/iTouch/iPad and other gadgets is sitting on roughly $100 billion of cash and securities.

Navy Federal Credit Union, Merrifield, Va., the largest CU player in mortgages, plans to hire as many as 600 employees at its Pensacola, Fla., call center campus to accommodate growth.

A bullish thesis on construction activity has taken hold among investors who have bid up the shares of major home builders by as much as 80% in the last six months.

Certain appraisal management companies acting as a middleman between an originator and appraiser are not registering with the states, raising concerns about lost tax revenue, according to the National Association of Independent Housing Professionals.

Fitch is concerned that some CMBS special servicers are charging undisclosed fees to borrowers seeking modifications and fears the practice may be the beginning of a trend.

Given the ugly employment picture in the U.S., now isn't exactly the best time for a company to be crowing about how cheap its labor costs are thanks to overseas outsourcing. But don't tell that to Ocwen Financial, soon to become the nation's largest specialty servicer.

The last round of good faith estimate reform from 2010 is still causing some consternation two years later, and the industry is heading toward another round.

All of the major mortgage industry economists are predicting that 2012 will see a decline in originations from 2011. Yet, instead of retrenching, several organizations are predicting increased volume and acting upon that by expanding their retail branch networks.

According to Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke in a speech at the National Association of Home Builders International Builders Show in Orlando, "The state of the housing sector has been a key impediment to a faster recovery."

UGL Services has launched a new group to provide financial analytics support and advisory services for commercial real estate distressed assets, leasing deals and capital markets-related transactions.

Over the last 20 years you have all heard me speak of this agency. All federal financial institutions have to file Suspicious Activity Reports with it. The filer may not reveal to anyone this has been done under criminal penalty. The filer does it in good faith and does not even have to be right. It reaches the desks of the FBI, Secret Service and local prosecutors.