HOPE LoanPort, a new tool developed by HOPE NOW that streamlines loan modification applications on behalf of borrowers facing foreclosure, announced today that Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Greater Atlanta (CCCS Atlanta), with 30 offices in four states, will join the more than 100 counseling agencies already committed to the Web portal.

In a 7-1 vote, the California Senate Banking, Finance, and Insurance Committee approved a measure that would better protect homeowners in the Golden State who are at risk of foreclosure. SB 1275: Homeowners Bill of Rights contains two major provisions. It would require all mortgage servicers doing business in the state to evaluate delinquent borrowers for a modification before proceeding with foreclosure, and if a servicer fails to do so, it would give the homeowner the right to bring an action to either void the foreclosure or recoup damages.

On Wednesday, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed rules that would revise the disclosure, reporting, and offering process for asset-backed securities (ABS) to better protect investors in the securitization market. The proposed rules are intended to provide investors with more detailed and current information about ABS, including mortgage-backed securities, and more time to make their investment decisions.

Upbeat economic news propelled mortgage rates even higher this week, Freddie Mac and Bankrate reported Thursday. According to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey, 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 5.21 percent for the week ending April 8, 2010, and 15-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 4.52 percent. Bankrate said 30-year fixed rate mortgages averaged 5.35 percent, and 15-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 4.69 percent.

USFN, America's Mortgage Banking Attorneys, recently hosted its first Loan Management & Servicing Seminar of 2010. Close to 400 attendees gathered at the Omni Mandalay at Las Colinas hotel in Dallas March 17-19 to participate in the event. The seminar featured more than 20 informative sessions, open roundtable discussions, and timely forums that covered increasingly hot topics in the industry.

Both single-family homes and condos in Connecticut saw increases in sales and prices in February of this year compared to the same month in 2009, according to a report released Tuesday by The Warren Group, a provider of real estate data in New England. Connecticut's single-family home sales surged 27 percent from February 2009 to February 2010, marking the fourth straight month that sales have increased year-over-year by double-digit percentages. And statewide condo sales shot up 19.6 percent from February 2009, which was the fifth month in a row that condo sales increased year-over-year.

Consumer loan delinquencies fell in eight of 11 loan categories in the fourth quarter of 2009, marking the second quarter in a row of broad-based improvement, according to the Consumer Credit Delinquency Bulletin released Wednesday by the American Bankers Association (ABA). The organization's chief economist said the news is a strong indication that the economy is on an upswing. The results for housing loans, though, were mixed.

With serious delinquencies up for the 34th consecutive month, U.S. prime residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) late-pays surpassed 10 percent in March, but during the same month, subprime delinquencies fell for the first time in nearly four years, Fitch Ratings reported in its latest edition of Performance Metrics.

A study released Wednesday by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) showed that an estimated 1.2 million households were lost from 2005 to 2008, despite the population increase of 3.4 million in the study area. MBA says this decline in households was likely a significant factor to the excess supply of apartments and single-family homes currently on the market. Given its strong tie to unemployment, it's expected that household formation won't return to normal levels until 2012.

The administration's Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives (HAFA) program hasn't even been in effect for a full week, and positive feedback is already coming in. Loan Resolution Corporation, a Scottsdale, Arizona-based pre-foreclosure asset manager that acts as a vendor for banks implementing HAFA, said it expects a tremendous surge in short sales to accompany the recent implementation of this new program.