State attorneys general say they are willing to work with mortgage servicers to reach a settlement deal that would resolve the joint investigation of industry practices that led to last fall's robo-signing scandal and widespread foreclosure moratoriums. But no slap on the wrist will do. The group wants to see ""fundamental changes"" to the way servicers run their business when it comes to handling delinquent borrowers or they'll turn to the courts for resolution.

Morningstar, Inc., a provider of independent investment research, announced Monday that its Realpoint unit has launched an operational risk assessment practice to evaluate the performance of mortgage servicing firms. Morningstar says the new practice, which is part of Realpoint's credit ratings business, will complement the company's convention of providing transparency and insight to investors in mortgage-backed securities.

Lender Processing Services, Inc. (LPS) gave the media an advance look Monday at the company's February mortgage performance report to be released later this week. In what can be viewed as an anomaly of the current housing crisis, LPS' data show that both the national mortgage delinquency rate and the share of homes that are in the process of foreclosure drifted lower last month. Altogether, LPS says there are 6,856,000 properties in the United States with mortgages that are at least 30 days past due or in foreclosure.

Existing-home sales fell in February following three straight monthly increases, according to data released by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) Monday. Sales of previously owned homes dropped 9.6 percent last month to an annual rate of 4.88 million. The latest figures came in much lower than analysts were expecting. NAR attributed the February results to the twin headwinds of tight credit and appraisal problems that resulted in contract cancellations. Distressed homes accounted for nearly 40 percent of the pre-owned sales volume in February.

Word on the street is that Goldman Sachs is looking to sell off its mortgage servicing arm, Texas-headquartered Litton Loan Servicing. One publication's blog post says Litton never proved to be the distressed mortgage cash-cow that Goldman had hoped, while another financial news outlet reports that the servicing unit is indeed unprofitable at the moment. Industry data show that Litton's servicing portfolio has contracted by nearly 35 percent over the last two years.

RealtyTrac has announced the hiring of real estate veteran Charlie Engel as its new director of business development--real estate. Engel will lead the online foreclosure marketplace's efforts to drive additional real estate professional partnerships. He brings more than 10 years of sales management and business development experience to RealtyTrac.

With so much attention focused on the House's efforts to stamp out four federal foreclosure programs, a bill making its way through the Senate - which like its House counterpart would effectually terminate the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) - has received less attention but is progressing nonetheless. Pundits insisted such legislation would fall flat in the Senate, but members of the chamber's Banking Committee are pushing their bill forward on the argument that the free market, on its own, is working where government programs are faltering.

House Republicans may have succeeded in passing legislation to end federal housing programs that are intended to provide assistance to unemployed homeowners and support efforts to clean up vacant foreclosed homes, but their Democratic counterparts aren't going to take it lying down. Rep. Barney Frank, the top-ranking Democrat of the House Financial Services Committee, has introduced legislation that would require the biggest banks and hedge funds to cough up $2.5 billion to keep those very same programs alive.

Freddie Mac and the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) announced Friday the extension of their eight-year alliance agreement, which gives ICBA member banks increased access to the secondary mortgage market. First announced in 2003, the Freddie Mac-ICBA partnership is designed to help ICBA members serve more customers and stay competitive in a dynamic marketplace. The new alliance agreement extends the relationship between the two organizations through March 2012.

The delinquency rate on loans included in commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) conduit and fusion transactions increased 17 basis points in February to 9.18 percent, according to Moody's Investors Service. Moody's noted that while still rising, increases in CMBS delinquencies have been moderating since June 2010. During February loans totaling $4.1 billion became newly delinquent, while previously delinquent loans totaling $3.0 billion became current, worked out, or liquidated.