Home / Author Archives: Carrie Bay (page 70)

Author Archives: Carrie Bay

Carrie Bay is a freelance writer for DS News and its sister publication MReport. She served as online editor for DSNews.com from 2008 through 2011. Prior to joining DS News and the Five Star organization, she managed public relations, marketing, and media relations initiatives for several B2B companies in the financial services, technology, and telecommunications industries. She also wrote for retail and nonprofit organizations upon graduating from Texas A&M University with degrees in journalism and English.

FDIC’s ‘Problem Bank List’ Shrinks for First Time Since 2006

Bad real estate loans from the heyday of the boom have weighed heavy on banks' balance sheets, forcing 365 FDIC-insured institutions to close up shop over the last two-and-a-half years. The FDIC keeps a list of banks it considers to have a high-risk of failure. This so-called ""Problem List"" has declined for the first time since the third quarter of 2006. The number of ""problem"" institutions under the FDIC's watchful eye fell from 888 at the end of the first quarter to 865 at the end of the second.

Read More »

Industry Groups Join Forces to Change Hawaii’s BPO Law

The state of Hawaii has enacted House Bill 320, a statute that permits a licensed real estate broker or real estate salesperson to prepare broker price opinions (BPOs) and charge a fee for their service. Under previous legislation, if a real estate licensee charged a fee for a BPO other than the commission involved in the normal sale of a property, then the licensee was in violation of the state's legal code for real estate appraisals. The change, which took effect in July, came about through a unified effort by a number of industry groups, and it's been a long time coming.

Read More »

S&P President Relinquishes Role to Citibank Exec

Deven Sharma, president of the global credit ratings agency Standard & Poor's, is stepping down from the role next month. Douglas Peterson, currently COO of Citibank N.A., will take the reins at S&P, effective September 12, according to a statement from S&P's parent company McGraw-Hill. Sharma's departure reportedly has nothing to do with the recent investigations into S&P's ratings of mortgage securities prior to the financial crisis or the agency's downgrade of the U.S. sovereign debt rating.

Read More »

GSEs Suspend PMI Mortgage Insurance and Affiliates

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have both suspended PMI Mortgage Insurance and its affiliates PMI Insurance Co. and PMI Mortgage Assurance Co. as approved mortgage insurers. Mortgages insured by any of the three PMI units with note dates before May 19, 2011, or after September 16, 2011, will no longer be purchased or securitized by either of the GSEs. To allow lenders and sellers to clear their pipelines, PMI-insured mortgages with note dates that fall in between that time will continue to still be accepted by the mortgage financiers.

Read More »

AOL Real Estate Launches New Search Powered by Move, Inc.

AOL Inc. has launched a new real estate search on AOL Real Estate that is powered by Move, Inc. The new search engine returns homes for sale, foreclosures, new homes, off-market, and recently sold properties provided to AOL through Move's ListHub syndication network. The AOL Real Estate search now delivers new tools that enable users to refine their search by multiple criteria including open houses, new listings, and price reductions. It also connects potential buyers directly to real estate agents.

Read More »

Study: Less Than 3% of Mortgage Mods Involve Principal Reductions

The ratings agency DBRS made principal reductions the focus of a research note released Monday. The firm's analysts stressed that as a modification technique, debt forgiveness has long been regarded as controversial in the mortgage industry due to its moral hazard risk and the potential impact it could have on the performance of securitized mortgages. As such, it's been utilized on a very limited basis. Based on first-quarter data, DBRS found that principal reduction modifications accounted for 2.80 percent of the total mods performed.

Read More »

Regulators Shut Down Four More Community-Based Lenders

This year's failed-bank tally has hit 68 with the closings of four more FDIC-insured lenders. The latest casualties can be found in Florida, Georgia, Illinois, and Pennsylvania, and collectively are expected to cost the FDIC an estimated $374.8 million. Lydian Private Bank, based out of Palm Beach, Florida, was the largest of the seizures in this latest round. It operated five branches, with $1.24 billion in deposits and $1.70 billion in assets.

Read More »

PMI’s Mortgage Insurers Placed Under Regulatory Supervision

The Arizona Department of Insurance has placed two subsidiaries of PMI Group, Inc. -- PMI Mortgage Insurance Co. (MIC) and PMI Insurance Co. (PIC) -- under the department's supervision and ordered them to cease issuing new mortgage insurance. PMI alerted investors of the possibility of such actions earlier this month. PMI says further measures by the regulator could result in up to $735 million of the parent company's outstanding debt coming due, obligations which the PMI Group would be unable to pay.

Read More »

Aklero Names John Alarcon Chief Financial Officer

Aklero Risk Analytics Inc., which provides loan quality and risk mitigation solutions to the mortgage lending industry, has hired John Alarcon as chief financial officer. In this role, Alarcon oversees financial operations, planning, and human resources at Aklero. He brings more than 16 years of senior executive experience to the firm and has held positions in management, finance, and operations at both private and public software, consulting, and financial services companies.

Read More »

Early Delinquencies Rise Amid Outlook for Continuing Deterioration

The delinquency rate of first-lien residential mortgages increased to 8.44 percent of all loans outstanding as of the end of the second quarter of 2011, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported Monday. Although the rate is down 141 basis points from a year earlier, it rose 12 basis points when compared to the first quarter of 2011. The biggest increase came from loans in the earliest stage of delinquency - just one installment, or 30 days past due. Analysts called this the ""most worrying"" aspect of the report.

Read More »