Government

Lender Processing Services (LPS) reported a spike in cure rates in February. About 500,000 loans were cured, or went from being delinquent to current, in February, with most of the cures reported on loans that were just one or two months past due, according to LPS' February Mortgage Monitor report. LPS also found an increase in modifications over the last two quarters after two years of decreases.

In order to further assist homeowners with its Making Home Affordable programs, the Obama administration announced the launch of three new housing initiatives designed to direct struggling homeowners to programs aimed at foreclosure prevention. In the first of the three initiatives, Treasury will work with NeighborWorks America to raise awareness about Making Home Affordable and assist homeowners in applying for assistance through its programs.

A Montana court rejected claims from plaintiffs of wrongful foreclosure and ruled in favor of Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. (MERS) and other defendants.

In January, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac refinanced about 97,600 loans through the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP), of which nearly half represented underwater borrowers, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) reported Tuesday. The agency's report revealed 47 percent of loans refinanced through HARP in January had loan-to-value (LTV) ratios greater than 105 percent. In addition, a quarter of the borrowers were deeply underwater, with 25 percent of loans refinanced through HARP having LTVs greater than 125 percent.

Five Fannie Mae servicers received record-breaking marks for their improvements in servicing loans. For the first time in the history of the Servicer Total Achievement and Rewards (STAR) Program, Fannie Mae assigned the four STAR designation to servicers. The program began in 2011 and assesses overall servicer performance by considering factors such as the delivery of foreclosure prevention solutions, customer service, and operational assessments. ""It is a sign of great progress to award four STAR designations for the first time,"" said Leslie Peeler, SVP of Fannie Mae's national servicing organization.

The first wave of checks for eligible borrowers covered by the recent foreclosure agreement with 13 mortgage servicers will be sent April 12, the Federal Reserve and the OCC announced Tuesday. About 4.2 million borrowers should expect to receive checks ranging $300 to $125,000. The first phase of payments will include 1.4 million checks, with the final phase of payments scheduled to be sent in mid-July 2013.

Job openings in February rose to 3,925,000, the highest level since May 2008, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported Tuesday in its monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS). The number of persons unemployed for each job opening fell to 3.07, the lowest level since October 2008.

A three-judge panel of the Oregon Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court ruling rejecting a borrower's use of the ""split the note"" theory to argue against a non-judicial foreclosure, MERSCORP Holdings (MERS) announced.

Arizona's Gold Canyon Bank became the fifth FDIC-insured bank to fail in 2013, the agency announced. The Arizona Department of Financial Institutions closed the bank Friday, appointing FDIC as receiver. To protect depositors, Gold Canyon Bank's estimated $44.2 million in deposits has been assumed by First Scottsdale Bank, National Association, which has also agreed to purchase essentially all of the failed bank's $45.2 million in total assets.

Fannie Mae found consumers continue to view the housing market with relative optimism, despite wavering confidence in the economy, according to the GSE's national housing survey. Forty-eight percent of survey respondents expect home prices to rise over the year, unchanged from February's all-time high for the monthly survey, which started in June 2010. Another survey high was reached in response to the home-selling environment. Twenty-six percent of respondents say now is a good time to sell a home, a 1-percent increase from February.