After months of proposals and negotiations, nine mortgage servicers have officially signed a compact with Ohio Governor Ted Strickland, in which they agree to engage in a significant effort to modify the terms of adjustable-rate subprime mortgages across the state.

Tampa, Florida-based ProVest, a process server management firm, is expanding its Elmhurst, Illinois location by 3,000-square feet to accommodate a stronger demand in the marketplace for the company’s services.

With loss mitigation now the primary focus of many financial institutions and investors, Plano, Texas-based Strategic Recovery Group, LLC, has launched its Acqura Loan Services unit—a platform that will help lenders, hedge funds and investors find quality solutions for financial institutions and borrowers.

A spokesperson for financial services giant J.P. Morgan & Chase Co. confirmed Monday that if a pending deal with Bear Stearns goes through, layoffs will follow. JP Morgan spokesperson Joe Evangelisti told DSNews.

You can call it fate—or just the nature of probability—that Cheryl Lang, president of Integrated Mortgage Solutions (IMS), has become the guardian angel of thousands of animals who unwittingly became the nation’s latest foreclosure victims.

Cleveland, Ohio-based National City Corp. said this week that the company has retained Goldman Sachs to pursue strategic alternatives for the company. The review has no impact on National City’s day-to-day operations, Chairman and President and Chief Executive Officer Peter Raskind said.

The Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008 continues to generate buzz—this time from the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL), a consumer advocacy group that says leaving out loan modification provisions for judges is a big mistake.

It takes quite a bit to ruffle the feathers of veteran REO agent Jenni Ruiz with JS Ruiz Realty, Inc., in Indianapolis, Indiana. Ruiz realized this when she recently walked into a property and found the basement flooded and a clothing dryer floating over a few feet of water.

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley secured a court order this week that prevents a local mortgage broker—Lehi Mortgage Services Inc.—from transferring company assets or destroying documentation that will likely be utilized in the Attorney General’s investigation of the mortgage brokerage.

As the Senate moves forward with a new version of the 2008 Foreclosure Prevention Act, Kieran Quinn, chairman of the Mortgage Bankers Association is in support of the bi-partisan effort—which excludes inclusion of a controversial provision that would allow judges to adjust the principals on mortgages.