It’s a much-discussed subject in the mortgage lending industry: Can lenders effectively save borrowers through internal loss mitigation programs if the companies behind those measures are not required to report their home retention strategies and success rates to public officialsx At least that’s the question California Assemblyman Ted Lieu (D-Torrance) has been asking for a few weeks—and now he has the passage of a bill within the state assembly as assurance that perhaps his state will eventually require lenders and servicers to report loss mitigation results publicly.

Washington, D.C.-based NeighborWorks America, a nonprofit that runs a foreclosure hotline supported by the Homeownership Preservation Foundation, announced today that its foreclosure prevention hotline—888-995-HOPE—has assisted more than 200,000 homeowners since June 25, 2007.

Fannie Mae chief executive officer Daniel Mudd said in a speech this week that his company is back on track when it comes to its ability to file timely reports with government regulators. And in terms of the housing market, he said while it remains positive on many fronts, he expects the industry is not in a steady environment and there are still many knowns and unknowns to be aware of.

Lewisville, Texas-based EMC Mortgage Corp., a subsidiary of The Bear Stearns Companies Inc. and a mortgage banking company specializing in residential mortgage loan servicing, has promoted Chris Alcedo to the position of senior vice president of Asset Liquidation in the Customer Relations Division.

The Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) confirmed Tuesday that its economic crimes unit is continuing its probe into 14 companies to answer questions related to possible valuation issues, inaccuracies and accounting practices that are related to subprime lending.

Indiana resident and HOPE NOW Alliance participant Lori Ball remembers all too well what life was like for her family a few short months ago. In those months, Lori and her husband, Carey Ball, were at-risk of losing their home to foreclosure, and their only lifeline seemed to be a speech Lori heard President George W.

Foreclosure activity— a measure of the actual number of foreclosure filings reported on every distressed property in a given year—jumped 75-percent in 2007 when compared to the previous year, according to RealtyTrac’s latest Foreclosure Market Report.

Tampa, Florida-based ProVest, a process server management provider, said this week that the company significantly expanded its growth in 2007 because of its ability to offer servicers effective loss mitigation tools.

Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems Inc. (MERS) is receiving publicity of a different sort with the Legal Aid Society of Minneapolis suing the national mortgage registry for failing to comply with the state’s foreclosure guidelines.

With additional regulatory changes expected in the mortgage banking industry, Orlando-Florida-based Integrated Mortgage Solutions (IMS) has named Kathy Sutton to the position of risk and compliance officer.