Tag Archives: Top Corporate Headlines from 2010

The industry is abuzz with news that the federal government could unveil its proposal for overhauling Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as early as Friday. The GSEs haven't had a profitable quarter in over three and a half years and were placed under government control in 2008 to avert their collapse. Since then, Treasury has pumped more than $150 billion into the two GSEs and cries for their reform have grown louder. The forthcoming proposal is expected to lay out three recommendations that call for phasing out the nation's two largest housing-finance companies.

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) issued a notice this week explaining Wells Fargo's new rules surrounding short sale transactions when a foreclosure is pending. Earlier this month, Wells Fargo advised NAR that it has modified its existing guidelines to allow the postponement of a scheduled foreclosure in connection with a short sale, but only in limited situations. Specifically, Wells Fargo must have an approved short sale contract in hand, and the transaction must close within 30 days of the scheduled foreclosure sale.

The nation's largest bank has halted foreclosures in certain states after evidence was disclosed that it too had ill-famed ""robo-signers"" rubber-stamping approvals of foreclosure cases without verifying their validity. Bank of America has placed foreclosure actions in 23 judicial states on hold while it determines if the paperwork was processed correctly and affidavits by staff members were indeed legitimate. BofA is the third major mortgage lender in two weeks to call for a foreclosure freeze.

The nation's largest mortgage company is about to start cracking down on servicers for letting delinquent loans languish too long without action. Fannie Mae has issued a notice alerting servicers that it is monitoring all delinquent loans to ensure foreclosures are handled within an acceptable time frame, and may assess penalties for poor servicer performance. By the tone of Fannie's announcement, the GSE wants these nonperformers off its books as quickly as possible.

Barclays said Friday that it has agreed to sell HomEq Servicing, its U.S. mortgage servicing business, to Ocwen. Ocwen will pay $1.3 billion ""in cash on completion,"" Barclays said. The transaction aligns the two companies with the highest modification conversion rates under the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). The Treasury's latest HAMP progress report puts both Ocwen and HomEq at the top of the servicer list, having converted 83 percent of their HAMP trials to permanent status.

With short sales gaining in popularity, it comes as no surprise that two companies recently announced strategic partnerships with National Quick Sale, a short sale technology company based in Jacksonville, Florida. The company's two newest partners are REA Accelerated Marketing Group and Epic Real Estate Solutions.

Georgia-based Altisource Solutions, Inc. has broadened its mortgage service offerings to include REO asset management operations. This recent expansion extends the company's real estate disposition and closing services to include oversight and coordination of the entire REO transaction lifecycle.

In response to the overwhelming amount of foreclosures that could have been avoided through a short sale, Retreat Capital Management Group, a provider of loss mitigation and outsourced fulfillment solutions, and First Team National Default Solutions have formed a joint venture to manage the short sale segment of the loss management process.

Technology provider Equator has announced the launch of its new agent-initiated short sale feature, which gives agents the ability to request a short sale on behalf of their homeowner clients, initially bypassing the lender to open up the process on their own. The company says agent initiation makes the progression easier for both the borrower and the lender, and brings short sales to fruition in dramatically less time.

Built around a mission to bring new standards of quality to default servicing management, Springboard was recently launched through a joint venture by Kathleen Guerrette-Mitchell of KGM Consultants, LLC, and Terri Key-Cravens of Terrie Cravens Enterprises.