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In response to accusations from institutional investors against Ocwen Financial of "failure to perform," investment advisor LL Funds has come to the defense of the embattled mortgage servicer in the form of an independent 26-page white paper titled "In Defense of Ocwen Servicing" released Friday.

Under the new rules, loan servicers are required to delay foreclosure on a home for a year and evaluate all borrowers facing foreclosure for participation in the government's Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) or a similar loss mitigation program. Loan servicers could previously foreclose on a home six months after they received the loan and were not required to evaluate borrowers for loss mitigation programs, though they were encouraged to do so.

Less than a week after Quicken Loans sued the Department of Justice and HUD, accusing them of coercing the Detroit-based lender into making false statements, the DOJ filed a lawsuit against Quicken accusing the lender of improperly originating and underwriting FHA-insured mortgages, according to an announcement from the DOJ on Thursday afternoon.

Bank of America was ordered to pay a $1.27 billion civil penalty in July 2014 as a result of its alleged role in the Hustle case. The bank has been fighting to overturn that verdict since, claiming that the Hustle program ended prior to its July 2008 acquisition of Countrywide. Rakoff rejected a motion by the bank to have the verdict reversed in early February. He also rejected the bank's motion for a new trial at that time.

Greenbaum, who has been with Safeguard since 2010, has previously served as the company's VP of operations. In his new position as COO, he will continue to support Safeguard's clients and oversee the company's extensive vendor network

The delinquency rate (percentage of residential mortgage loans 30 days or more past due but not in foreclosure) dropped to 4.70 percent for March (approximately 2.38 million loans), the first time the rate has been below 5 percent since August 2007. The rate fell by 12 percent since February, the largest month-over-month decline in nine years.

As part of the continued effort to excise all deeply delinquent, non-performing single-family residential loans from its mortgage portfolio, Freddie Mac has announced its first-ever Extended Timeline Pool Offering (EXPO) auction.

As is true in several other sections of the industry, regulatory compliance was a hot button issue. Several discussions at the Servicer Summit were centered on the question of how to adapt to constant regulatory changes and avoid the adverse effects of non-compliance. The evolving business landscape was another major theme of discussion at the Servicer Summit. With foreclosures on the decline in the last two to three years, many default servicing firms have struggled to maintain their position in the industry.

The composite index, which includes first and second mortgage defaults as well as those on bank cards and auto loans, fell from 1.12 percent in February down to 1.05 percent in March. The first mortgage default rate declined for the second straight month, falling eight basis points down to 0.92 percent.

Attorneys Lance Margolin and Alan Weinreb have announced that Cynthia Nierer has been named a partner with Syosset-based foreclosure and credit services law firm Margolin & Weinreb Law Group as of April 1. The addition of Nierer as a partner will be reflected in the firm's new name, Margolin, Weinreb & Nierer Law Group.