Foreclosure

The call for federal officials to establish industry-wide mortgage servicing and foreclosure standards is getting louder. A group of more than 50 senior economists, academic leaders, and influential investors sent a letter to the heads of federal regulatory agencies Tuesday, urging them to take the lead in setting national standards for mortgage loan servicers. The group argues that widely reported fraud in servicers' dealings with homeowners and foreclosure procedures demands new standards be adopted now.

For every home loan held by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that was modified during the third quarter, 2.3 loans were foreclosed on during the same period. The GSEs initiated foreclosure on 339,000 home mortgages during the July to September timeframe. Loan modifications completed in the quarter totaled 146,500, with the majority of those completed through non-HAMP programs. The two companies approved 29,500 short sales during the third quarter.

Fannie Mae is adding a sixth mortgage help center to its arsenal with its first Texas location. The new center, located in Dallas, is a partnership with two local non-profit housing agencies that will provide free counseling services for struggling Dallas/Fort Worth-area homeowners with loans owned by Fannie Mae. Counselors will review a borrower's loan, discuss foreclosure alternatives, collect the required documents for the federal Making Home Affordable program, and provide help to finalize any pending loan workout efforts.

A second state has filed a lawsuit against Bank of America for alleged deceptive loan modification and foreclosure practices. Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto announced that her office has also opened a lawsuit against the company and its affiliates regarding its residential mortgage servicing procedures. Bank of America says it is disappointed by the lawsuit and is currently engaged in multi-state discussions to improve foreclosure related processes and programs to help distressed homeowners.

Data released by NeighborWorks America Monday illustrates the value of foreclosure prevention counseling for distressed homeowners. The organization has found that a homeowner who works with a housing counselor is nearly two times more likely to avoid foreclosure than those who go it alone. Counseled borrowers also lower their monthly mortgage payments by nearly twice as much and are less likely to re-default after a mortgage modification.

Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard has filed a lawsuit against Bank of America for alleged fraudulent acts committed after a March 2009 lawsuit. Last spring, BofA agreed to develop a modification program for customers in the state to resolve Goddard's allegations that Countrywide had engaged in fraud in originating and marketing mortgage loans. Since then, Goddard says BofA has violated the provisions by failing to make timely decisions on mod requests and proceeding with foreclosures when modifications were pending.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is reportedly investigating lenders' procedures for packaging home mortgages into securities bonds for sale to investors. Reuters, citing two sources familiar with the probe, says the SEC sent subpoenas last week to Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, and Wells Fargo. The subpoenas focus on the earliest stage of the mortgage securitization process, in particular, the role of master servicers.

Congressman Randy Neugebauer (R-Texas), chairman of the House oversight subcommittee, has released a letter to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) expressing concern about reports that the Obama administration is pressuring Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to write down principal mortgages. Neugebauer argues that the GSEs' participation in such a program would increase taxpayer losses - already approaching $150 billion - and run counter to the statutory obligation of FHFA to minimize taxpayer exposure.

Moody's rating service and Fitch Ratings both reported increases in defaulted commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) last month, of 24 and 18 basis points, respectively. Both companies show the office sector with the greatest increases in delinquencies across the five core property types in November.

Lender Processing Services (LPS) offered the media a sneak peek at its upcoming November mortgage market report Thursday. Based on the company's assessment, the number of home loans in the United States 30 or more days delinquent or in foreclosure declined slightly. LPS' study will show that 6,925,000 mortgages were past due or already winding their way through the foreclosure pipeline as of the end of November. The previous month, the company's analysts put the figure at 7,043,000.