Foreclosure

If all of Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's borrowers paying interest rates that are higher than the median rate were to refinance at 4 percent, the savings would total $63 billion. While such an option would not bring the total $63 billion in savings to fruition, Moody's chief economist, Mark Zandi, says ""even a fraction would be a big plus."" According to Zandi, the single most effective policy move for the housing market would be to facilitate more mortgage refinancing.

Mortgage servicer Residential Credit Solutions (RCS) stands out from the crowd in today's world of almost commonplace ratings downgrades and default servicing challenges. RCS has been awarded two upgrades from Fitch of its primary servicer rating for subprime products and its special servicing rating. Fitch said the rating actions reflect the company's 'high touch' servicing approach, competitive performance metrics, and effective default and foreclosure practices.

One in three Americans would be unable to make their mortgage or rent payment beyond one month if they lost their job, according to the results of a national survey taken in mid-September. Job loss has become the primary driver of mortgage defaults. With the state of the labor market posing one of the biggest obstacles for struggling homeowners and their lenders, a number of programs at both the national and state level have been launched to assist unemployed homeowners, but so far the expected results haven't materialized.

As delinquencies and impending foreclosures rose, New England states responded with foreclosure prevention programs, generally falling into one of two categories: foreclosure mediation and financial assistance. The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston examined these efforts to determine ways other states can learn from them. Five of the six New England states have their own mediation programs, and Massachusetts created a program allowing negotiation without a mediator.

Nevada has held the number one spot in state foreclosure rankings for 56 consecutive months. In fact, for the month of August, RealtyTrac reports one in every 118 Nevada homes received a foreclosure filing. While foreclosures cannot always be prevented, the state is taking steps to protect homeowners facing foreclosure. A new ""Foreclosure Fraud Reform"" law will go into effect October 1. It lays out new rules for the recording of foreclosure documents and mandates the foreclosing party prove chain of title.

Data released Thursday by a federal banking regulator provides a snapshot of mortgage performance over the second quarter of this year. Both early stage and serious delinquencies increased slightly compared to the previous three-month period, as did completed foreclosures, while new modification actions fell nearly 20 percent. Perhaps the most troubling result in the report is post-modification performance. Of loans modified since the beginning of 2008, nearly half have since gone delinquent.

Rick Sharga has been the voice of RealtyTrac for more than seven years, serving as SVP at the foreclosure tracking and research firm since 2004. But effective this week, he has left RealtyTrac to join Carrington Mortgage Holdings. Sharga has taken on the role of EVP at Carrington and will serve as its primary industry spokesman. Sharga will be responsible for developing branding and marketing strategies for the entire Carrington Family of Companies.

Wells Fargo says it will increase its commitment to credit counseling nonprofits by $5.4 million to a total of $12.4 million in 2011 - a 35 percent increase over the $9.2 million in 2010 - for national and local credit counseling agencies. The company notes that public funding for credit counseling is becoming more scarce, while demand for such services is growing. Wells Fargo's $5.4 million in new commitments this year will be provided in the form of grant money directly to nonprofit agencies and support foreclosure prevention counseling services and training.

Servicers completed about 56,000 proprietary permanent loan modifications in the month of August - similar to their July efforts. Most of these modifications included reduced principal and interest payments and fixed interest rates for five years or more, according to HOPE NOW data released Wednesday. While proprietary loan modifications remained level, foreclosure starts increased 18 percent, rising from 185,000 in July to 218,000 in August.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is seeking public comment on two new compensation structures for mortgage servicing. The agency says the current model was not designed for today's market conditions. After meetings and discussions with various stakeholders, FHFA has put forth two alternatives. One proposal would establish a reserve account within the current servicing compensation structure. The other proposal would create a new ""Fee for Service"" model.