Government

Employers added 216,000 jobs to their payrolls in March, according to figures released Friday morning by the U.S. Department of Labor. The national unemployment rate dropped to 8.8 percent, down from 8.9 percent in February. Analysts had been forecasting a smaller pool of new jobs and no change in the unemployment rate. Since November 2010, the jobless rate has declined by a full percentage point. The government agency's count shows there are currently 13.5 million people out of work, with 45 percent having been unemployed for 27 months or more.

Attorneys general and federal regulators sat down with major servicers this week to discuss the details of the robo-signing settlement. Both sides have submitted their own version of what they believe a settlement should look like, and this week's meeting is just the first in what will likely be a long period of negotiations. Banks have repeatedly spoken out against what they believe to be terms that are too harsh and may even encourage moral hazard. Mortgage investors are also weighing in on the proposed terms.

The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday approved legislation that would give bankruptcy courts the authority to order face-to-face meetings between homeowners and their lenders for foreclosure mediation, clearing the way for it to move on to the full Senate. The legislation does not give bankruptcy judges the power to modify mortgages like the controversial bankruptcy cramdown proposals that have repeatedly failed in Congress. Instead, it would give them a mechanism for opening up the lines of communication between homeowners and creditors.

Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe has signed House Bill 1388, making Arkansas the 22nd state to ban the use of Wall Street home resale fees, also known as private transfer fees. Private transfer fees require that homebuyers pay a percentage of the final sale price of a home to a private third party every time the property is sold, typically for 99 years. Issuers of these fees attempt to sell the right to collect them on Wall Street.

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) announced this week that Thomas T. Kim will serve as the association's new VP of commercial regulatory policy beginning April 14. He will manage activities relating to commercial regulatory issues, serve as the staff representative to the Commercial Risk Retention Task Force, and advance and promote commercial policy with a focus on federal financial regulatory reform and bank oversight. Prior to joining MBA, Kim was associate general counsel at Freddie Mac.

Federal regulators proposed a new rule Wednesday that would require certain financial institutions, including large mortgage lenders, to account for risk as they structure incentive compensation packages for executives and employees. New rules for risk-based pay are a mandate of the Dodd-Frank Reform Act and are aimed at stemming the type of risky lending and investment gambles that many economists say pushed the nation's financial system to the brink of collapse.

KDX Ventures, a partnership between DebtX and KEMA Advisors, will sell $142 million in multifamily loans for HUD, the companies announced Wednesday. The portfolio consists of 18 multifamily loans, ranging in size from $1.7 million to $17.4 million. The collateral is located in 10 states, with a concentration in Texas. Most of the loans are non-performing.

With foreclosure sales steadily rising, four states are concerned that the use of the foreclosure sale prices in appraisals of neighboring homes is distorting the market. Legislators in Illinois, Nevada, and Missouri have all proposed separate bills that would exclude or restrict foreclosure sales from being used as comparisons to determine the value of homes around them. Maryland had proposed a similar bill, but withdrew the legislation on Tuesday.

Timothy Massad, acting assistant Treasury secretary, said this week that beginning next month Treasury will start publishing a scorecard grading the largest servicers based on their compliance with the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). Though members of the House voted yesterday to end the program, the Treasury is moving forward with its plans to hold servicers publicly accountable, basing the first report on performance in 2010. Massad says Treasury will withhold financial incentives for unsatisfactory grades.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation Tuesday evening to end the administration's flagship foreclosure prevention initiative, the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). The HAMP Termination Act (H.R. 839) was approved with a 252 to 170 vote. Pundits are calling it a largely symbolic vote since the bill is not expected to win as much favor in the Senate, although Republican senators have already introduced their own bill to pull the plug on the federal mod program.