Clayton Holdings has partnered with MBSData to provide loan-level data risk identification analytics and reporting solutions to fixed-income-mortgage investors. According to a statement from the two companies, their combined technology platform is designed to help investors manage residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) risk more effectively. The new offering will cover 98 percent of the active deal universe of private-label RMBS.

The operations of MDA DataQuick, MDA Lending Solutions, and MDA MindBox have been integrated, effective May 2. The private investment firm TPG Capital purchased the three companies in January. The resulting combined company, which operates under the name DataQuick and headquarters in California, delivers real estate information solutions powered by data, analytics, and advanced decisioning to lenders, servicers, real estate companies, and secondary market investors.

A new homeowner outreach program launched by Default Resource aims to enhance the interaction between servicers and struggling homeowners. The company said it created the program to help troubled borrowers stay in their homes while assisting servicers in loss mitigation efforts. The program includes borrower outreach, door-knocking, and in-person initiation of the loan resolution or short sale process.

MERSCORP, Inc., which operates the Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems (MERS) database, has appointed mortgage industry veteran Bill Beckmann as president and CEO. Beckmann was formerly chairman and CEO of CitiMortgage, Inc. He replaces R.K. Arnold, who resigned as MERS' president and CEO in January.

Urban Lending Solutions Appraisals LLC (ULSA) recently licensed the use of new appraisal management software from FNC, a real estate information technology firm. ULSA is a subsidiary of Urban Lending Solutions, a provider of loan modification services, underwriting, valuations, and other real estate information solutions in the mortgage business.

Home sales in the Phoenix metro are heating up thanks to the popular foreclosure market, according to ForeclosureDeals.com. The site reports that there were more than 10,000 home sales in the Phoenix area in March with nearly 1,500 of those sales foreclosure homes. The company says foreclosure properties there offer discounts from traditional home prices as high as 50 percent or more, making them popular with buyers. Lenders also report higher than normal turnout at foreclosure sales and auctions in Arizona as a whole.

A new mediation program to help ease those affected by residential mortgage foreclosures will soon be available in Peoria County, Illinois. The program's anticipated start date is June 1. The program, approved by the Illinois Supreme Court, is modeled after one that began last June in Will County. Both programs operate with no expense to taxpayers and are sustained by an increase in filing fees paid by lenders seeking to foreclose.

Struggling Minnesota homeowners with loans owned by Fannie Mae can now expect faster response times to their mortgage situations. The Minnesota Home Ownership Center recently partnered with the GSE to accelerate the mortgage resolution process. The Center's counselors will work directly with Fannie Mae staff on behalf of borrowers to find solutions. Assistance is free of charge.

South & Associates, P.C., a law firm focused on the protection of creditors' rights in Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska, has hired a new associate attorney, Holly A. Smith. Smith joins the firm's corporate office in Overland Park, Kansas, as the supervising attorney of the loss mitigation department.

Wingspan Portfolio Advisors, a specialty and component mortgage servicer, added 100 employees in the past 60 days to help servicers stay compliant with the interagency review issued this month by the Federal Reserve, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Office of Thrift Supervision. Two key enforcement actions were included in the consent orders for each servicer examined -- the hiring of an an independent consultant to review residential foreclosure actions from 2009 and 2010, and an expert assessment of risks in servicing operations.