Headlines

HomeStar, LLC, a family of companies that offers a comprehensive suite of services and solutions for real estate and financial institutions, has announced the hiring of Matt Richey as SVP of Field Service Operations.

Bank of America lost its bid on Tuesday to overturn a jury verdict that resulted in a $1.27 billion civil penalty over the packaging and selling of toxic residential mortgage-backed securities to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the run-up to the financial crisis, according to media reports.

New York-based credit ratings agency Standard & Poor's Ratings Services and its parent company, McGraw Hill Financial, have entered into settlements with the U.S. Department of Justice and Attorneys General of 19 states and the District of Columbia over claims that S&P misrepresented residential mortgage-backed securities and collaterized debt obligations to investors, according to a release from McGraw Hill on Tuesday morning. As part of the settlement, which is not subject to court approval, McGraw Hill agreed to pay $687.5 million to the Department of Justice and a combined $687.5 million to the states and the District of Columbia.

Mortgage professionals involved with the servicing of Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgage loans said the biggest challenge they face with those loans is "fulfillment of FHA property preservation and conveyance requirements," according to the February 2015 Mortgage Industry Outlook Report released Monday by The Collingwood Group and The Five Star Institute. Thirty-nine percent of survey respondents who service FHA loans for their respective companies said that fulfilling fulfilling property preservation requirements was their toughest challenge.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has provided guidance for state and local entities for implementation of the National Housing Trust Fund (HTF) in the form of an interim program rule published in the Federal Register, according to an announcement from HUD.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced on Friday proposed new minimum financial requirements for mortgage sellers and servicers to do business with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The proposed requirements include minimums for net worth, capital ratio, and liquidity criteria that must be met by servicers and sellers to do business with the GSEs.

Freddie Mac's total mortgage portfolio ended 2014 on a strong note with its highest annualized growth rate for a single month in five years, according to the enterprise's December 2014 Monthly Volume Summary released Thursday.

Hearings began Thursday for thousands of homeowners behind on taxes and facing foreclosure in Wayne County, Michigan, at the Cobo Center in Downtown Detroit, according to an announcement from the Cobo Center.

A new policy issued by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) on Thursday under its Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) Program will allow reverse mortgage lenders to delay calling HECMs from a surviving non-borrowing spouse following the death of the last surviving borrower. Such a delay on collection of the HECM from the surviving non-borrowing spouse would postpone the foreclosure process normally triggered by last surviving borrower's death. Under the new policy, reverse mortgage lenders have the option of assigning the HECM to HUD, thus allowing that spouse to remain in the home despite his or her non-borrowing status.

Maryland-based default services technology solutions firm Aspen Grove Solutions has announced the appointment of James Hall to the position of SVP of Sales and Business Development.