After declining for two consecutive weeks, mortgage application volume has bounced back. According to the Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey released Wednesday by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), mortgage applications soared 13.6 percent for the week ending April 16, 2010.

Private National Mortgage Acceptance Company, LLC (PennyMac), a Calabasas, California-based financial services firm created to address dislocations in the U.S. mortgage market, announced Monday that it has appointed Steve Bailey as chief servicing officer. Bailey joins PennyMac from Bank of America where he formerly served as a mortgage servicing executive.

Lender Processing Services, Inc., a Jacksonville, Florida-based provider of integrated technology and services to the mortgage and real estate industries, announced Tuesday that its LPS Auction Solutions division will conduct an online auction of bank-foreclosed homes located throughout the nation.

First American CoreLogic, a Santa Ana, California-based provider of advanced property and ownership information, analytics, and services, announced Tuesday that it has joined forces with The Prieston Group (TPG) to offer a comprehensive fraud prevention and insurance solution to mortgage lenders. The new solution combines First American CoreLogic's pattern-recognition fraud tool with TPG's risk management services, indemnity programs, and training.

DepotPoint, Inc. recently announced that it has launched a real estate agent network and modified its proprietary short sale solution to be fully compliant with the administration's Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives (HAFA) program, which went into effect on April 5.

Just four months after the fourth round of National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling (NFMC) Program funds were appropriated, $59.5 million was awarded to 35 state housing financing agencies (HFAs), 15 HUD-approved housing counseling intermediaries, and 81 community-based NeighborWorks organizations to provide counseling to homeowners facing foreclosure, according to a recent announcement by Washington, D.C.-based NeighborWorks America, administrator of the NFMC Program.

The Michigan State Housing Development Authority recently submitted its plan to the Treasury, detailing its intentions to use the majority of the $154.5 million it received under the Hardest Hit Fund to help unemployed borrowers. Through a nonprofit corporation set up specifically for the purpose of being an ""eligible entity"" under the Hardest-Hit Fund, MSHDA plans to administer three programs, including the Unemployment Mortgage Subsidy Program, the Principal Curtailment Program, and the Loan Rescue Program.

Mount Laurel, New Jersey-based PHH Mortgage Corporation, a subsidiary of PHH Corporation, announced Friday that it has named Bruce Van Fleet as SVP, real estate sales. In his new role, Van Fleet will be responsible for the development and execution of sales strategy in the company's real estate channel. He joins PHH Mortgage with more than 30 years' experience in mortgage industry sales

PMI Mortgage Insurance Co. recently announced a new online tool to help lenders see the pricing advantages of PMI mortgage insurance versus Federal Housing Administration (FHA) insurance on high FICO loans. Lenders can price various scenarios on the new tool by entering loan amounts, credit scores, and loan-to-value ratios.

First California Mortgage Company (First Cal) confirmed Monday that it has been chosen as the pilot lender for the recently-announced warehouse initiative between Fannie Mae and Natty Mac, Guggenheim Partners' mortgage warehouse operations company. First Cal has secured $50 million in new warehouse funding through the program, which will enable the lender to fund an additional 5,000 home loans this year and more than triple its 2009 production.