Bank of America wants to bulk up its portfolio with more jumbo mortgages, according to Barbara Desoer, the bank’s head of mortgage, home equity, and insurance services. Desoer told Bloomberg News:http://www.

Rhode Island’s Liberty Title & Escrow Company has named Jennifer Casale as VP of default services and business development. Casale’s new responsibilities will include overseeing all default customer relations and development, as well as the company’s recently launched default marketing and technology platform.

NewOak Capital has announced the appointment of Tom McAvity as managing director. In this position, McAvity will market the firm’s advisory, asset-management, and capital markets services to the insurance industry and design customized solutions for insurers, banks, pension, and endowment funds.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said this week that the administration is close to finalizing its plan for alleviating the burden of toxic mortgage assets, which many argue was the cause of the nation’s financial tailspin.

In a new report issued this week, Navigant Consulting, Inc. found that beyond the billions in writedowns, the credit crisis produced an alarming 576 new litigation matters filed in U.S. federal courts in 2008.

Pleasanton, California-based Ellie Mae announced on Friday the launch of the company’s HVCC-compliant appraisal services, a new program designed to help banker, lender, and broker clients comply with the GSEs’ Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC) that goes into effect on May 1, 2009.

Kent Jolliff has joined Weston Portfolio Group, LLC as director and general counsel. Weston Portfolio Group (WPG) is a consulting firm servicing the financial services industry, hedge funds, the mortgage banking community, and Wall Street firms.

Foreclosure activity in February increased nearly six percent from the month before, according to RealtyTrac’s U.S. Foreclosure Market Report released on Thursday. The gain comes despite widespread foreclosure moratoria instituted by the GSEs and some of the nation’s largest lenders during the first part of the year.

David G. Kittle, chairman of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) and EVP at Vision Mortgage Capital, LLC, testified before the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit on Wednesday.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York purchased $27.1 billion in agency mortgage-backed securities (MBS) this week. Total MBS purchases since the government program began in early January now stands at $217 billion.