HUD and NeighborWorks have extended the deadline for homeowners who have experienced a loss of income to apply for the Emergency Homeowners' Loan Program (EHLP). The new deadline is Wednesday, July 27. The cut-off date had originally been set for Friday, July 22. EHLP assists homeowners who are at risk of foreclosure due to involuntary unemployment or underemployment as a result of the economy or a medical condition. Qualifying homeowners are awarded an interest free loan to pay a portion of their monthly mortgage for up to two years.

Default rates on first and second mortgages dropped between May and June, and both measurements are down sharply from year-ago readings, according to S&P Indices and Experian. Their monthly assessment shows the default rate on first mortgages fell 7 basis points month-to-month and is 125 basis points below June 2010. Second-mortgage defaults slipped 2 and 101 basis points for the month and year, respectively. The results are based on consumer credit data from 11,500 banks and mortgage companies.

Scott French has joined Old Republic Default Management Services as SVP of REO management services. In this role, he will oversee REO services for the company's Dallas, Texas, and Orange, California, offices. Over the past 25 years, French held VP positions with two international financial firms managing various default functions, including REO, foreclosure, and valuations.

Wells Fargo & Company has reached an agreement with the Federal Reserve that resolves allegations that its former Wells Fargo Financial unit, which was closed in July 2010, did not adequately detect and prevent instances of fraudulent loan applications and that the unit's employees steered prime borrowers into more costly subprime loans. The Fed has assessed an $85 million civil money penalty against Wells Fargo. In addition, the order requires the company to compensate affected borrowers.

Chase has opened its newest Homeownership Center near the U.S. military base in Fort Hood, Texas, to provide one-on-one help for homeowners struggling with their mortgage payments. It is Chase's first Homeownership Center near a military base. The bank plans to open five other centers this year near military bases in Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Washington state.

Sales prices of commercial real estate properties rose 6.3 percent in May, according to Moody's Investors Service. The agency's latest reading marked the first positive move in its property price index in six months and the largest one-month increase since Moody's began tracking commercial real estate prices in 2000. The firm's analysts attribute much of the turnaround to an increase in prices of distressed transactions, which rose 4.8 percent during May.

Interest rates on fixed-rate mortgage loans inched up this week amid mixed economic data, according to Freddie Mac. The GSE's weekly survey puts the average 30-year fixed rate at 4.52 percent for the week ending July 21, and the 15-year rate at 3.66 percent. Adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) were mixed in Freddie's latest survey. The company's analysts calculate average interest rates based on data from about 125 lenders across the country.

Home prices in the U.S. rose in May, marking the second consecutive monthly increase, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) reported Thursday. Before the string of two-month gains, FHFA's market gauge had recorded declines in property prices for 10 straight months. The agency's monthly House Price Index (HPI) is calculated using purchase prices of homes backing mortgages that have been sold to or guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It rose 0.4 percent from April to May.

Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, LP (HFF), a commercial real estate capital intermediary, has added two new members to its debt placement team in the Washington, D.C. office - Walter Coker and Brian Crivella. The firm also announced that senior managing director Kevin MacKenzie will be relocating from its Dallas office to Orange County and will be in charge of the local debt placement and structured finance team there.

MortgageKeeper Referral Services is the developer of a national database that connects financially strapped homeowners with qualified nonprofit and government agencies for assistance. The company announced Wednesday that it has entered into an agreement with Saxon Mortgage Services to electronically connect homeowners to vetted community services via MortgageKeeper's MKDirect product.