Foreclosure

With President Obama’s recent proposal to provide $75 billion to help modify home loans, millions of Americans on the brink of foreclosure now have hope in sight. But what’s uncertain, particularly for those who are facing imminent foreclosure, is how quickly the assistance will funnel down the pipeline to homeowners.

HOPE NOW, a foreclosure prevention alliance of mortgage servicers, non-profit counselors, and investors, today announced that its members and the larger mortgage lending industry modified 123,000 mortgages in January 2009.

From foreclosure moratoriums to targeted community outreach programs, lenders across the country are stepping up their home retention efforts to tackle the foreclosure epidemic that has strangled the U.

Lender Processing Services, Inc. (LPS), a provider of integrated technology and services to the mortgage industry, has released its February 2009 LPS Mortgage Monitor. Among the findings, LPS reports that foreclosure starts have continued to increase across major product types over the past several months despite moratoria and mitigation.

NeighborWorks Center for Foreclosure Solutions announced yesterday that it has received a donation in the amount of $50,000 from Smith Barney, a division of Citigroup Global Markets Inc. The contribution was awarded to help support foreclosure intervention and prevention strategies.

An activist for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) has been charged with fourth degree burglary for helping a Southeast Baltimore woman break into her former home last week as part of a protest demonstration against foreclosures.

To provide faster service and acceptance of loan restructurings, Wingspan Portfolio Advisors, a Carrollton, Texas firm specializing in saving seriously delinquent loans from foreclosure, has selected electronic mortgage solutions from Houston-based SigniaDocs.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger approved a bill appended to the state’s budget package last week that institutes a 90-day foreclosure moratorium throughout the Golden State. Introduced by Sen.

RealtyTrac, a national online marketplace for foreclosure properties based in Irvine, California, and Caspio, Inc., a provider of a Web-based point-and-click platform for creating Web applications, today announced the launch of a new foreclosure Web application that features historical foreclosure activity data by state or by county and a real-time nationwide search of properties in foreclosure.

Minneapolis-based Wolters Kluwer Financial Services recently announced that two members of its compliance management services team have earned the prestigious Certified Regulatory Compliance Manager (CRCM) designation from the American Bankers Association’s (ABA’s) Institute of Certified Bankers (ICB).