Daily Dose

Four national banks agreed to pay a combined $2.7 million in penalties to resolve claims that they unlawfully foreclosed on properties in Massachusetts, according to an announcement from Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley.

Two economists from the Detroit branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago will lead an economic forecast discussion on Thursday, January 22, in Flint, Michigan, according to an announcement from Baker College of Flint Center for Business. Senior economist Paul Traub and business economist Martin Lavelle, both of the Detroit branch of Chicago's Fed Bank, will lead the discussion, which will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. at Baker College in Flint on Thursday

Monthly refinance numbers moved in fits and starts throughout 2014, bouncing between a low of 105,059 in March and October's year-to-date high—though the trend in the year's latter half was largely upward as mortgage rates fell to nearly 4.0 percent.

New York-based credit rater Kroll Bond Rating Agency (KBRA) has updated its residential mortgage default and loss model, incorporating a new methodology that projects loan-by-loan default, loss, and prepayment on residential loans in order to track non-agency residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS), KBRA announced. The new methodology uses revisions that reflect additional data analysis and evolving origination trends, and is an update to KBRA's RMBS model methodology originally released three years ago in January 2012.

Luxembourg-based mortgage servicer Altisource Portfolio Solutions is cutting more than 800 jobs both overseas and at home in the wake of what was a bumpy year for the company. The move was announced in a conference call with investors on Friday that saw Altisource management working to reassure shareholders who have seen their stock drop more than 80 percent in the last year.

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Julián Castro will answer questions about a variety of housing topics in a fireside-chat style event on the morning after President Obama's state of the union speech on Wednesday, January 21, at the Newseum in Washington, D.C.

The U.S. Federal Reserve Board announced the formation of a 15-member Community Advisory Council (CAC) to provide information, advice, and recommendations to the Board on emerging economic issues and relevant policy matters, according to an announcement from the Fed.

In a conference call hosted ahead of Altisource's fourth-quarter earnings release, CEO William Shepro acknowledged that 2014 was "a trying time" for the firm's investors and employees as shares plunged nearly 80 percent. The company's troubles last year can be traced to its relationship with Ocwen Financial Corp., which has faced a growing amount of scrutiny from federal and state regulators related to its growth and operations.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is awarding seven Choice Neighborhoods Planning grants worth $3.2 million in six cities, HUD Secretary Julián Castro announced while speaking to grant recipient Louisville Metro Housing Authority in Kentucky on Friday. HUD's signature place-based initiative, Choice Neighborhoods' goal is to transform those neighborhoods that are struggling to address the challenges of distressed housing, inadequate schools, poor health, high crime, and lack of capital, which are all interconnected.

New York-based investment bank Goldman Sachs reported a slight year-over-year decline in Q4 2014 net earnings, but for the whole year of 2014 the firm reported a slight uptick from 2013, according to the firm's Q4 and year-end earnings statement released on Friday.