Atlanta-based default servicing law firm Morris Schneider & Wittstadt, LLC, has transferred all of its default assets to Dallas, Texas-based mortgage banking industry law firm Butler & Hosch, PA, according to a joint announcement from both firms.

HomeStar, LLC, a family of companies that offers a comprehensive suite of services and solutions for real estate and financial institutions, has announced the hiring of Matt Richey as SVP of Field Service Operations.

Bank of America lost its bid on Tuesday to overturn a jury verdict that resulted in a $1.27 billion civil penalty over the packaging and selling of toxic residential mortgage-backed securities to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the run-up to the financial crisis, according to media reports.

One week after a U.S. Federal Court of Claims Judge ruled that his company's lawsuit against the government over its use of GSE profits could continue, Fairholme Funds CEO Bruce Berkowitz addressed investors on a conference call Tuesday morning, telling them that his company, one of the GSEs' biggest investors, has made "considerable progress" in its lawsuit against the government.

New York-based credit ratings agency Standard & Poor's Ratings Services and its parent company, McGraw Hill Financial, have entered into settlements with the U.S. Department of Justice and Attorneys General of 19 states and the District of Columbia over claims that S&P misrepresented residential mortgage-backed securities and collaterized debt obligations to investors, according to a release from McGraw Hill on Tuesday morning. As part of the settlement, which is not subject to court approval, McGraw Hill agreed to pay $687.5 million to the Department of Justice and a combined $687.5 million to the states and the District of Columbia.

The U.S. Department of Treasury's borrowing estimate for the first quarter of 2015 is about 25 percent lower than its original prediction issued two months ago, according to an announcement from Treasury released Monday.

Mortgage professionals involved with the servicing of Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgage loans said the biggest challenge they face with those loans is "fulfillment of FHA property preservation and conveyance requirements," according to the February 2015 Mortgage Industry Outlook Report released Monday by The Collingwood Group and The Five Star Institute. Thirty-nine percent of survey respondents who service FHA loans for their respective companies said that fulfilling fulfilling property preservation requirements was their toughest challenge.

Fannie Mae's gross mortgage portfolio continued its downward trend in December, falling at a compound annualized rate of 26.4 percent, according to Fannie Mae's December 2014 Monthly Summary released recently.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has provided guidance for state and local entities for implementation of the National Housing Trust Fund (HTF) in the form of an interim program rule published in the Federal Register, according to an announcement from HUD.

REO liquidations have amassed a higher share of gross unpaid balance (UPB) recovery than short sales since the fourth quarter of 2012, reversing a crisis-years trend, according to Black Knight Financial Services' December 2014 Mortgage Monitor released Monday. As of the end of October 2014, REO sales prices accounted for 71 percent of the corresponding loans' defaulted UPBs, compared to 65 percent for short sales prices, largely due to home price appreciation, according to Black Knight.