Ticor Title Global Solution Services announced the hiring of former HUD Assistant Secretary Steven Nesmith as Chief Operating Officer. In his new role, Nesmith will manage the Washington, D.C office operations and build executive-level relationships with U.S. and international banks, the GSEs, federal agencies, and regulators to further business and political opportunities for the company.

The Bank of America Charitable Foundation is inviting nonprofit organizations throughout the United States to submit funding proposals for programs addressing housing market challenges. The company stated it will invest $15 million to support impactful local and national programs and services addressing housing issues, including foreclosure counseling and mitigation, neighborhood stabilization, and affordable housing.

Morgan Stanley may have sold its servicing sector off, but it's still going to be under a watchful eye for previous practices. The Federal Reserve issued a consent order against Morgan Stanley Tuesday to address servicing and foreclosure issues from the company’s former subsidiary Saxon Mortgage Services. The consent order requires Morgan Stanley to hire an independent consultant to review foreclosure proceedings initiated by Saxon that occurred between 2009 and 2010. According to the Fed, Saxon was ranked the 34th largest residential servicer.

Across the board, loan performance improved for February, and foreclosure starts were down compared to the month before in January, according to a report from LPS Applied Analytics. Despite the decrease in foreclosure starts, foreclosure inventory still remains near historic highs, while delinquency rates are at their lowest level since August 2008. Foreclosure starts were down 15.2 percent compared to the previous month, reversing the increase seen during January. Foreclosure inventory was at 4.13 percent in February, a 0.5 percent monthly decrease, but still remains high. In December 2005, foreclosure inventory was at 0.48 percent.

Homeowners who have had mortgage debt forgiven after a foreclosure, modification, or short sale may be able to exclude the canceled debt from their taxable income if they meet specific criteria. According to Gil Charney, principal analyst at The Tax Institute at H&R Block, the specific criteria to have forgiven debt excluded are the debt must have been incurred to buy, build or substantially improve the residence, called ""acquisition debt, and the property must be the taxpayer's primary residence.

HOPE NOW, a private sector alliance of mortgage servicers, investors, mortgage insurers, and non-profit counselors, estimated 45,000 homeowners received permanent, non-HAMP loan modifications from mortgage servicers during February 2012, down from 56,000, or 20 percent, compared to the month before in January. While modifications were down, foreclosure sales and foreclosure starts also declined on a month-over-month basis, with 69,000 foreclosure sales and 167,000 foreclosure starts in February, compared to 79,000 sales, a 12 percent drop, and 200,000 starts, a 17 percent drop, in January.

J.P. Morgan recently announced the issuance of $132 million in commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) backed by non-performing commercial real estate loans. According to the Wall Street Journal, the issuance is first time since the late 1990s. Prior to the securitization, the assets were owned by Rialto Capital Management, a real estate investment management company focused on distressed asset investment, management, and workouts.

ISGN Corporation hired two new senior attorneys for its legal department. Jennifer Fulks and Matthew Mesmer were hired as associate general counsels with a focus on regulatory compliance, corporate compliance, ethics, risk management, and operational compliance.

State regulators closed Fidelity Bank of Dearborn, Michigan over the weekend, the first bank in Michigan to fail and the 16th in the nation to go dark.

The Senate confirmed key regulatory positions Thursday, leading to a five-member FDIC board.